TFA You Caught My Optics
by Dragon with a Shotgun
Summary: Optimus Prime meets a new femme in Detroit where his fellow Autobots are staying with Sari Sumdac. This new femme is unknown to him, but what does he feel about her? She's an Autobot, but who Is she, and why is he having these feelings about her? There is only one way to find out...
1. Chapter 1

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Hello, this is my new story, You Caught My Optics. This is a Transformers Animated story that I made up, so... yeah XD. I made up a new character in this story just if you're confused of whom she is. Thanks! Ha-ha, either way, hope you enjoy! **

Thoughts and past memories are _italicized_

Voices are "Quotes in regular"

**Chapter One**

A deep, satisfied sigh exhaled from Optimus's mouth as he laid under the shade of a large tree.. He was at peace now, and was enjoying the quiet silence. He had a long and exhausting day, helping Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead with rebuilding a bridge on the interstate, putting out a house fire, and retrieving a broken down boat out in the gulf. He knew it was a routine thing, but he was very agitated that it was a daily thing.

_Humans can be so stupid… _Optimus thought to himself, almost bitterly. But, the thought vanished when a blue bird landed near his leg on the ground It was a tiny thing, compared to an Autobot like him especially. He watched it in wonder as it hopped onto his knee, having no sense in flying away.

"Huh…" he huffed to himself in a quiet whisper, hoping not to disturb the bird in its natural state. So, he took a deep breath, and relaxed. He felt the bird hop around on his leg. He peeked open an optic, risking a glance at the feathered organic before it could fly off. The bird froze on his leg, and then pecked at a bolt on his knee.

Optimus gasped, jerking his thigh and sitting up. The bird fluttered off in a flurry of feathers. He sighed, rubbing the cap of his knee. Then something caught his attention. He turned his audio senses up, tracing the source of the sirens. Then he sighed, shaking his head.

"Duty calls…" he muttered to himself. He then stood up, transformed, and headed toward the highway. He turned onto the intersection before turning his sirens on. His lights showed bright as he hit a curve. He sped to the right lane, and then suddenly a green motorcycle zoomed past, a few cops following in pursuit. He skidded to a stop, leaving tire tracks behind him as he halted. He then drove in reversed, and followed the police after the motorcycle. He caught up with them a few seconds later, having pulled up beside a yellow car with a red light.

Captain Fanzone poked his head out the window, still keeping an eye on the road. "Hey, Optimus! See if you can slow her down!"

Optimus called back. "Alright!" Then he sped up some ways to catch up with the green motorcycle. When he got close enough, he saw that the woman sitting in the seat had a black helmet, blue T-shirt and jeans. He matched his pace with the woman's.

"I'm giving you one chance to give up and pull over, ma'am. You can stop this chase and it'll all go well, or you can keep it up and risk hurting someone else or yourself."

The woman turned her head, taking one hand from the handles to lift her helmet's shades. She had solid light blue eyes and a piece of blonde hair drifted from her forehead.

"I think it's a little late for it to be 'well' if I pulled over, Chief." She called back in a cocky tone.

Optimus sighed. "I'm giving you one last warning. Stop or I'll force you to pull over."

She gave him a mischievous grin and slid her shade back down. "Then come and make me."

Then she sped off, her motorcycle revving and him close behind. The rest of the police were left behind in the dust. The chase went on for some time; they made their way through the city streets and interstates. Optimus wondered how her vehicle hadn't broke down yet. Then a thought penetrated his processor.

_She is playing games with me! _He then growled to himself. This woman had no idea who he was. Once she saw his Autobot form, she would freak out. She would be scared. But, the problem was, if he was going to have a stop her, he was going to have to play her game. He was going have to chase her until she grew tired and made a move. He would by his time like always.

So, the chase still went on. He slowed but kept a steady pace, watching her every move on the vehicle. He watched as she sat on the motorcycle. She seemed too still. Too… fake? Was that even the word for it? Yes, the human looked too fake. He remembered when she had turned around. Her movements were slower, stiffer than a regular human's. He pondered over the thought before she suddenly turned. He skidded the sharp turn. He had almost lost his balance, but he caught himself before his right tires left the ground. He grumbled to himself before quickly driving after her. He lost track of her. He couldn't see her anywhere.

He drove around downtown Detroit. He didn't see any tire tracks that looked like a cycle had sped through. If anything, it was all calm. Optimus sighed as he rounded a corner. Suddenly Captain Fanzone's car pulled in close to Optimus. When he opened his door and got out, he had a frown that the mech couldn't tell was directed at him or just anybody.

"We didn't see her uptown. Have you seen any sign of her here?" he asked in a low voice.

Optimus shook his head. "No. I lost her near the park."

The man nodded. "Alright," then he turned to the other policemen. "You lot form a squad and swarm the park. That lot checks uptown again and this lot search here. We are not going to lose her again!"

With that, all the humans left with their orders. Optimus was then left alone, standing there. He was confused. How could've he missed which way she had gone? Surely she didn't just disappear into thin air? But could've she transported somehow to somewhere else? Maybe she hid while he passed and escaped by hiding in plain sight? No, she seemed too enthused in the chase to try to hide. He sighed, and then started to walk along the quiet ally. Ahead the alley opened to the woods where it was darker, but maybe it would be a good place to think. He guessed the 'one with nature' thing with Prowl always worked with him, so why not Optimus? So, his mind set, Optimus walked out from the alley and into the greenery.

He walked for a while, stepping over some fallen branches, kicking some rocks. He was lost in thought in the cold silence. He pondered about the woman on the green motorcycle. When he was close to her, he felt some kind of warmth, not the kind of warmth from an engine, but from a Cybertronian. It crossed his mind that she might have not been real at all, but how? Maybe he was imagining the stiffness of her movements. Besides, both of them were driving at a high speed down the interstate. And the warmth, the sun shining on the pavement could've made the heat rise and that's what he might've felt.

He groaned, a headache throbbing in his processer. He growled and searched for a place to sit. He saw a boulder under a large oak tree. He sighed and strolled over, sitting down on the flat part of the surface. He rubbed the sides of his head; where on a human would be the temples. The throbbing didn't seem to ease, and almost felt as if it was becoming worse. So he stopped trying to soothe it, and tried to bear with it until is ceased. A few minutes went by, and the throbbing hadn't died down.

"Maybe lying down will help…" he wondered quietly to himself.

The large mech slowly rose, feeling the throbbing spike in sharp pains. He then sat on the grass and leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. With a large sigh escaping his tanks, his body relaxed. Finally, the pained seemed to lighten up, and now was just an uncomfortable humming in his processer.

_Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. _The Prime closed his optics, still letting his mind wonder, but not so deeply.

Finally he had a time to have a quiet moment on his own. He had only been by himself for ten minutes before the police call alerted him. Hopefully things will be quieter for at least an hour, or maybe the rest of the day. He just wanted to forget about the burning house, the retrieving of the boat in the gulf, fixing bridges, and that woman on the green motorcycle. He just wanted to go offline for at least a Stellar Cycle, or year in human terms. Suddenly, his optics were becoming heavy, a soothing blackness slowly creeping into his mind and allowing his body to shut down. Soon, it was all black, and all his thoughts vanished, along with his energy.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been out, but when Optimus woke up, he found himself in the same spot in the woods. His energy had been charged and now he was wide awake. He blinked his optics, allowing a moment for them to get used to the light that shown through the canopy. Then he sat up. He stretched his arms, wearing the stiffness out. He stood up, instinctively letting his back stretch. Once his body and joints was movable and no soreness remained, he yawned. He looked around at the tree trunks and the bushes. The greenery was almost too overwhelming, especially just after him opening his optics after a maybe long stasis-nap.

"Well, you sure look like you had a nice cat-nap."

Optimus gasped and spun around. He looked around him, but he didn't see the source of the voice.

"Up here, big boy."

He looked up the large oak. Having to look straight up strained his neck, so he took a few steps back until he was a few feet from the tree. He let his optics search the branches until he saw a green figure. He blinked in surprise as the figure had a feminine body, laying on one of the thicker branches. The femme was small, maybe half his size or at least the size or Blackarachnia. He studied the figure until he came to a pair of light, sky-blue optics. They showed brightly as she gazed down upon him. From where he was and how she was laying, she was actually a gorgeous femme. But he shook his head and glared at her.

"How long have you been here?"

She repositioned her arms under her neck. "Ever since you blacked out. Which was around, oh… maybe two hours?"

Optimus frowned. He'd been in that stasis-nap for two hours? The others must have been worried about him. He wondered how he hadn't heard anything from them. He then turned his attention back to the femme.

"Ok, then. Who are you?"

She gave him a smirk, resting a hand on her cheek. "You mean to tell me that you don't recognize me… Chief?"

The mech gasped. That voice! Where had he heard it? He then suddenly remembered the high speed chase he guessed that was two hours ago. The green motorcycle!? He snapped his head back to the femme in the tree. She was smiling at him innocently, her optics shinning brighter than before.

"You were that criminal. The one we were chasing!" Optimus pointed at her, earning a shake of her head.

"Well, just because I was chased by police means that I'm a criminal?" she asked, a frown forming on her lips as she sat up on the branch. Now she was sitting like she was riding a motorcycle herself. Optimus blinked. He hadn't thought of this femme being a Cybertronian when he was chasing her. What _did _she do to make all those policemen give chase?

She groaned. "I didn't do anything, chief. I was simply minding my own business when they suddenly started riding my tailpipe. They wouldn't leave me alone so I tried to get them off of me."

Slowly but surely, Optimus began to understand. He nodded. "They asked you to pull over?"

The femme nodded. He sighed. "Then you made yourself look guilty of something."

"How? I didn't do anything wrong." She replied in a stern tone.

"Well, you see, the organics tend to take in anybody who doesn't follow their laws on this planet. You must've accidently done something wrong without knowing it." He then paused for a long moment. When he looked back at her, she was blinking her optics at him curiously.

"I might need to take you back to Captain Fanzone."

She widened her optics. "Who's Captain Fanzone?"

Optimus put his hands on his sides. "He's one of the organics. He is the captain of the police department here."

"So you're going to take me back to the ones that were chasing me in the first place?" she questioned, raising an optic ridge at him.

He crossed his arms. "Well, we're going have to explain why you ran, and that you are not accustomed to Earth's ways."

The femme nodded. "Eh, guess there's no harm in it." She threw her legs over the branch so that they were dangling off the side. She then looked at him in an odd way.

"So, uh, Chief-,"

"It's Optimus." He interrupted.

She nodded, a small smile forming on her face. "Optimus... Well, Optimus, do you think they'll understand?"

He shrugged. "Well, I'd think so."

She shrugged and jumped down, landing with a soft thud. She was at least to his chest in height, and taller than Bumblebee. She had green armor that was slim against her figure and a neat helm that was actually almost shaped like his own, except that it was more feminine. Her tires were at her ankles, above the back of her heels. An Autobot symbol was set in the middle of her chest below her neck.

"Ok, what's your name?" he asked, remembering that she already knew his name now.

She gazed up at him. Her optics danced for a moment before her lips parted to speak. "Fernblade."

Well, nice to meet you, Fernblade." Optimus held out a hand. She took it and they shook hands. Her hand was small in his, and was light. So he was gentle.

"_Optimus?"_

He blinked for a moment, confused at the new voice.

"Something wrong?" Fernblade asked, tilting her head a little.

Optimus was silent for a minute, and then he gasped, seeing that he was still holding her hand.

"Oh, sorry! I forgot about my com-link there for a Nano-click."

She smiled, and a soft giggle erupted from her lips. It was a smooth sound, not so high pitched, but not too deep. Optimus blushed for a moment and turned away as calmly as he could without seeming so abrupt.

"Yes?" he answered his com-link.

"_Oh, thank Primus! We thought that something happened. We were fixing to come look for you."_

Optimus sighed at Ratchet's voice. "Sorry, I fell into a stasis nap, and when I woke up, I got sidetracked."

"_Sidetracked?" _Ratchet questioned. _"By what?"_

"More like by whom. I'll explain everything after I run a small errand. I'll be back in a while."

There was a silence between them before Ratchet came back, now with a grumpy voice. _"Just hurry up. You've had us worried."_

"Understood," he sighed, then turned his com-link off. Then he turned around, finding that Fernblade was studying him curiously. Feeling awkward, he cleared his throat.

"Uh, um… ok, then. Let's go to Captain Fanzone's station." He declared before starting to walk back the way he remembered walking into the forest. He heard almost no sound of her walking behind him as he stepped over the brush. When he caught himself before tripping, he felt her bump into him from behind.

"Uh, sorry." He then stepped over the stuck up root before carrying on. He felt her gaze behind him, and felt a little awkward again. He felt the eerie silence sink in. Now he knew how the others felt after one of his long speeches when that weird silence followed them. He sighed and kept his optics straight ahead.

A few minutes later they were back in the alley that he came through and that he possibly lost her in. He looked back at her to see if she was close, which she was. Then he transformed into his fire engine mode. Fernblade smiled in amusement for a moment before transforming into her green motorcycle mode, allowing her human protoform to flick on. Then they started out on the road. The park was quiet, so he guessed the policed gave up searching for the day. The rest of the police weren't uptown either, so there wasn't the sound of sirens, except that of a passing ambulance in a rush to get to the hospital.

They soon came to the police station. It wasn't crowded, but at least Fanzone's car was there at least. So Optimus transformed and tapped on the small door to the building.

"Captain Fanzone?" he called.

A few minutes past before a heavy set man walked out of the door. He saw Fernblade in her motorcycle mode with her human protoform and then frowned.

"You caught her?"

Optimus shook his head. "She isn't what you think. She is not a human."

Suddenly her human scan disappeared and a second later she had transformed into her regular form. When Optimus looked back down at Fanzone, he saw that the human had a disgusted expression.

"Another machine?" he grumbled.

Optimus nodded. "She is new to Earth, and she did not know your laws. She was only acting on what came to her mind when you chased her."

The organic sighed, rubbing his temple before looking the mech in the optic. Optimus saw exhaustion in his eyes.

"Alright, Optimus. Just… teach her or whatever. I've had a hard enough day as it is."

Optimus nodded, and stood up straight before turning to Fernblade. "Come on, I need to let you meet some others."

"Others?" she asked, blinking at him. When he nodded, she huffed, but a beautiful smile that caught Optimus's spark off-guard curved at her lip. "You sure need me to see a lot of people, don't you?"

Optimus sighed, letting his beating spark calm down. "Well, I need to get back to my team. I just thought that you'd like to meet them." He said.

She grinned. "Well, then what are we waiting for?"

Optimus watched as she transformed and revved her engine. He chuckled and transformed himself, leading Fernblade onto the interstate. He told himself that he'd help her with the organic laws later. First she had to meet his team. Deep down in his spark, he actually hoped that she would stay for a while.

The young Prime surprised himself, but there was something about her that made his spark hum. Something about her made his mind spin like he was drunk on high grade energon. Whatever the reason it was happening to him, however it got there he didn't know. He hadn't felt like this before, but… he liked it? No, he loved it, he didn't want it to go away. It made him feel… _alive. _


	2. Chapter 2

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Hey! At first I wasn't so sure that the story I was writing was any good, but, when I saw the posts I received, I thought, man! I NEED to keep this up! Well, thank you to those who liked my story for giving me some hope! Hope you like this chapter as well and beyond! **

**Chapter Two**

As Optimus Prime and Fernblade were on their way to Sumdac's old warehouse, Fernblade began to wonder about this mech that she was following. When they met, he seemed so jumpy. He started blasting questions at her as if she was an enemy or a threat. Then again, she was the one who started the wild police chase in the first place. So… could she blame him? They did get off on the wrong foot, as the humans referred to when they met in an odd way. She didn't properly introduce herself, and that was pretty rude of her. But… one the other hand… he had accused her of doing something before she explained. Or, did he rather judge her, than accuse her?

Lost in thought, Fernblade wasn't watching where she was going, and started to drift off in the road. Suddenly, a booming voice shattered her thoughts.

"Fern, watch out!"

The femme gasped when she saw an orange jeep in her lane. She swerved, trying to turn, but she had turned too fast and was skidding on the road. Her processer started racing. _I'm not going to make it! This car is going to be the end of me! What am I going to do? What do I do? _The sound of her tires squealing filled the air and pierced her audio, causing her processer to throb. Then out of nowhere, a hand grabbed her handle bars and pulled her to the left. She yelped as she and a yellow bot went tumbling onto the side of the road, and then landed on the grass with a hard, jolting _thud_.

She transformed from her alt mode, sending her head into a spinning furry. Her vision was blurred and her head was dizzy. Though her vision was a wreck, she could tell the colors of Optimus when he was knelt down near her and the yellow mech, who in which was leaned against a tree upside down on his head.

"Fernblade, Bumblebee, are you two alright?" Optimus asked, not knowing who to look at first. Instead, the large mech just stood there and looked at them back and forth.

The mech called Bumblebee groaned and slid down from the tree, rubbing his head. After a moment he got his bearings and gave Optimus weak thumbs up. "All good here, Boss bot!"

_Easy for you to say… _Fernblade thought as she shook her head. She sighed and looked around. Now her vision was clear again, and though her head was still throbbing, the dizziness was gone. Now she got a batter look at Bumblebee. He wasn't a very tall mech, and only reached around below Optimus's shoulder. He had two horn-like designs on his head, and he had a large grin on his faceplates.

"Good job, Bumblebee. Didn't think we'd get out of that one." Optimus said, patting the yellow mech's shoulder before stepping to Fernblade's side and helping her to her feet. When she stood up, the dizziness shot back and she wobbled on her feet as he legs began to shake.

"Say," Bumblebee's voice broke through her processer, "who's your new friend, Optimus?"

She groaned as her knees hit the ground. She then felt Optimus's hand push up on her back and his other grabbing her own hand. He pulled her up, keeping a firm grip on her as they started to walk.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get her back to base." Then he looked at the car that was still on the road. "Are you alright?"

The young man that stepped out of the vehicle was thin with red hair. "Yeah, I'm fine! I'll be reporting that to Fanzone, you know that right?" he called back, his face red with anger.

Optimus sighed, nodding back. "Alright." Then he looked at Bumblebee. "Help me get her onto the trailer."

When Bumblebee nodded, Optimus let her sit on the ground before transforming back into his alt mode. He then backed up a few inches so that he was just a foot from Fernblade's back. Bumblebee came over, and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, grunting as he lifted her up and onto Optimus's trailer. He patted his leader's trailer and waved. Then the mech transformed into his own alt mode, which surprised her. He looked exactly like Captain Fanzone's own car.

Sighing heavily, Fernblade groaned and rubbed her head at Optimus slowly started to drive back up onto the road. Once they were on the road, he picked up his pace since they were on the flat pavement. She kept a firm grip on his trailer as he drove down the interstate. She began to wonder if she was going to have to ride on his trailer all the way there. Maybe he could pull over and let her transform? She was about to ask when a sharp throbbing pulsed in her head, making her reconsider her thoughts. She placed her hands on the tip of the trailer, now lost in thought without the risk of drifting off the road.

"Fernblade?"

She snapped her head back to look over her shoulder. "Huh?"

"Are you ok?" Optimus asked. "You're kind of quiet."

The femme rolled her optics as him and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine, Mr. Caring."

She felt his vehicle mode bump on the road, a snappy silence following it. Then after a few moments of silence, she began to feel fidgety and broadly yawned, just to add silence to the moment. She looked ahead and saw Bumblebee driving at the same speed behind them. She had forgotten that he was there and suddenly looked away, feeling awkward that she knew he was watching her on the back of Optimus's trailer. If she didn't know any better, she'd think that he was thinking funny thoughts about a femme sitting on Optimus's trailer, or, at least, where his legs are. Her face began to feel hot now that she thought of it that way. She was technically sitting on his legs, since they shifted into his trailer.

Now that she had come to the thought of this, she didn't know how to move without causing him to be uncomfortable. How should she sit? Where should she not touch? What should she do at all? Just sit here and be silent? She hesitantly placed a hand beside her leg, and swallowed.

A few minutes past before she felt him start to turn. Grabbing the end of his trailer, Fernblade completely forgot her hesitation and turned around, seeing that they were approaching an old, raggedy looking building. It looked almost like it was about to collapse and had cracked walls. To her this place hardly looked safe enough to just walk into. She gasped when they suddenly came to a stop. She stood up, and was relieved that her head was calm. She looked back at Optimus as he transformed back into his normal form. He then turned to her.

"Ok, let's go." He said, then turned away toward the building and started to walk.

Fernblade blinked at him. "In there? That thing looks like it'd collapse any moment!"

Bumblebee suddenly appeared beside her. "Hey, that thing is our home! Sure it needs a few touches here and there, but it's a good place. Just wait 'til you see the inside!"

Fernblade watched him walk on and enter the large warehouse. Once he disappeared through the door, she gave Optimus a questioning look. He stared at her, as if studying her. Then he smiled softly and placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt a warmth from his touch that eased her mind. She gazed up at his bright blue optics that seemed to put her in a trance.

"It's ok, Fern. It's safe." He said in a calm, deep tone.

_That voice could melt me if it were any smoother… _she thought to herself. Then she shook her head and looked back at the building. She then started walking, feeling his curious optics watching her as she went before he too started after her. She scolded herself for not saying anything, and for being so stupid. How could she be so weak to fall for his comfort like that? That voice was deep, and made her spark hum. Her face grew hot as she looked down at the ground. But then she frowned. Why did he call her 'Fern' instead of her full name? She barely looked over her shoulder. He quickly shifted his optics. Was he…staring at her? She raised a brow and thought to herself for a moment.

She then noticed that her shadow had vanished, and looked up. She was now inside the entrance to the building. Once she got a look of what the inside of the warehouse looked like, she began to have second thoughts of what this place was like. The place was huge! There was a sofa in front of a very large flat-screen TV in one part of the room, a large machine that rowed objects like metal into a flattener. There was a place that had a few sets of large computers on the other side of the room. She gazed around, almost in awe of how the place looked like on the outside, would've had such an awesome inside like this. She then spotted Bumblebee on the couch, grunting and growling at the video game he was playing, which looked like a ninja combat game. When he saw her, he smiled and got up, walking through a hallway into another room.

She looked to her left and saw a … very heavy built Autobot. He was the color of marine green and had star a star on each shoulder. He had his back to them and from under his arm, looked like he was painting. She tilted her head at the sight, but then shrugged and looked back over her shoulder at Optimus, who was right behind her. He looked back down at her with friendly optics. She could've sworn that she saw another emotion in them. A… distant expression maybe? She didn't make it obvious that she was staring and looked away quickly. She also saw a white mech sitting on the sofa where Bumblebee was sitting. She thought that he looked familiar. She stared at him for a few seconds as his back was to her.

She then smiled oddly, tilting her head. "Jazz?"

The white bot turned around, and then a grin formed on his face. "Fern?"

She smiled confidently now that she was sure it was him, watching as he quickly stood from the couch and strolled over. He suddenly wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her in a tight hug.

"How've ya been, Fern? Long time no see, huh?" he said, a goofy grin still plastered on his mouth.

Fernblade huffed and patted his side, "Yeah, good. You're kind of crushing me!"

He suddenly let go. "Oh! Sorry 'bout that."

She smiled and brushed herself off. He certainly was a strong one for sure. "No prob. It's cool."

Jazz crossed his arms. "So, how's Sentinel?"

"Eh, could be better."

Suddenly Optimus's voice broke their conversation. "You two know each other?"

They both looked at each other before looking back at the confused mech. Jazz was the one who spoke. "Yeah, we knew each other before I came to join your team on Earth, OP. We were good friends, haven't seen each other in so long, though."

Fernblade nodded in agreement. She watched as a few emotions danced on Optimus's face. Confusion for sure. Anger maybe? She wasn't sure. She could read anybody's facial expressions, but this one was hard to read. She considered everybody as a book. Some were easy to read, some were interesting, some were exciting. Optimus was a… intriguing? He was something that… she wanted to explore and learn about. When she had first saw Bumblebee, she saw a kid who loved fun and games. He was too easy to read, almost like he didn't care about hiding his emotions at all.

The femme shook her head and looked at Jazz.

"So, this is your home?" she asked, filling the silence.

"Yes. Not much I'm afraid, but it's done a well job of keeping us under a roof at least." He replied.

Fernblade smiled meekly. "It's actually a neat place. I didn't expect to see this when we were outside."

She heard Optimus chuckle behind her. "Well, never judge a book by its cover."

She then turned around, a mysterious smile spread over her face. "You would know that, wouldn't you, Officer?"

Optimus's optics widened suddenly and he started tittering, a nervous smile forming. He rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat as he tried to find words. She knew he was thinking about when they met earlier that day, and she loved the way he was acting at this moment.

_Payback time! _She thought to herself.

"Well, uh… heh…um…" he stuttered, now really having trouble with his words.

She giggled softly and shook her head. "I was just kidding, Optimus!" She patted his chest, earning a confused gaze as she walked away, looking around. Jazz was staring after her questionably as well.

"Well, well, well! Is this what you were talking about when you said you got 'sidetracked', Optimus?"

The mech that spoke was older and was red and white. He wasn't very large, but still bigger than her, and in her optics, quite a grumpy looking bot. She looked back at Optimus with a funny smile.

"So, you already told them?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well…"

The red and white mech rolled his optics. "He just told me that he got sidetracked by someone. That's it. Now, who are you anyway?"

Fernblade looked back at him to answer, but before she could answer, they all heard a shout.

"Bumblebee! Give back my shuriken!" A second later Bumblebee came back from the hall in a rush with a slightly taller bot chasing him. He was a black mech with gold trimming, but also with shades over his optics, so she couldn't see them. He had a furious look on his face as he glared at Bumblebee, still chasing the smaller yellow bot.

Bumblebee laughed and turned a corner around a couch. Making a human pop out from behind the back. Fernblade blinked, having thought that the human wasn't there and she was imagining it. Then she found that she wasn't imagining it. The girl was a teenager, with red hair that was in pigtails and very light blue eyes. She was wearing a short yellow dress-like suit and she was tall in human sights and very slim. Then suddenly her attention was turned back to Bumblebee and the other mech.

"Bumblebee, Prowl, both of you settle down!"

Both skidded to a stop, but with Bumblebee halting faster than Prowl, caused the mech to rear-end the yellow bot and send them both tumbling on the floor. When they settled, Fernblade had to muffle a giggle. Prowl's legs were bent over Bumblebee's abdomen as the younger bot was lying on his back. An embarrassed but raged expression inflamed Prowl's face as he snatched the shuriken that apparently Bumblebee had taken. When Optimus cleared his throat, they both quickly stood up and looked at their leader. Jazz was also chuckling to himself, earning a glare from Prowl.

"Now, everyone… including you Bulkhead." Bulkhead, the green bot that was painting, suddenly sprang up, knocking the stool he was sitting on down.

"Okay, so. Everybody, this is Fernblade. Did you hear that police chase from earlier?" When they all nodded, he continued. "This is the motorcycle they were chasing."

Jazz laughed, but a shocked expression spread over his face.

"What? So… you were the one they lost?" The teenager human was standing by Bumblebee's foot.

Fernblade looked down at the human. "Uh, yes. And who are you, now?"

The human smiled. "I'm Sari Sumdac. My father owns this warehouse."

The femme nodded slowly. "Oh, ok."

So, after a brief explanation of who they all were, why they were here and such, Fernblade began to feel at home in the building and was explaining her own side of her story. She explained that she was sent here by Sentinel Prime to investigate a rumor that there was a new threat in the city. She had been on Earth for a few weeks, trying to uncover the mystery. But, having no sign of anything about the threat yet.

"What do you mean 'a new threat'?" Ratchet asked, crossing his arms. They were all gathered by the sofa now, gazing at Fernblade closely, almost suspiciously. She felt nervous sitting there on the sofa, being glared at by the other bots. She shrugged absently and held a firm expression.

"I am not so sure about this myself. I've heard that it was about a weapon that was most spoken of. Sentinel never explained what the weapon could do."

Optimus then spoke. "You mean to tell us that Sentinel sent you?"

"That no good excuse for a Prime that always boasts about being the best at combat and at being a Prime?" Bumblebee stated ad he rolled his optics.

Fernblade stared quizzically at them in confusion. "Um…"

Optimus cleared his throat. "What we mean is that as far as we know, he doesn't care about Earth or us in that matter. Why would he be concerned about it if it wasn't on his planet, Cybertron?"

Fernblade shrugged again, pondering over what he said and meant about Sentinel. Sure, that mech was a stubborn, cocky, and rude Prime, but did that mean he didn't care whether these bots were in trouble or not? She didn't even know _why _he'd bother with sending her here. She wasn't part of the Elite Guard, which was clearly known since her Autobot symbol didn't have the wing-like markings like an Elite Guard's. He could've sent one of his higher mechs, like Warpath or Jazz maybe. She doubted that he'd send the Jet Twins, for they were merely kids themselves, or at least acted like it. But why not a member of the Elite Guard?

Fernblade then sighed and looked back at Optimus. "I am not completely sure about it. All I know is that I was sent here to investigate the rumors.

"Well we haven't heard anything about it." Sari stated.

"Maybe the trip was a big waste of your time." Ratchet said, shaking his head.

Fernblade sighed, and propped her elbows on her knees, resting her chin on her hands. Her processer was floating with questions and trying to figure out what she should do now. She couldn't go back without information. Sentinel would be yelling his aft off at her for being so useless. So, that was out of the question.

"So, what am I going to do now? Sentinel will have my head if he gets nothing about it." She sighed.

Optimus frowned. "Does he believe that there is a threat here enough to punish you if you go back without any information?" His voice rose, closer to the end of the sentence. Fernblade couldn't tell if it was in anger, or in just disbelief. It made her uneasy at the same time though.

"Uh, I'd think so, Optimus. You sound like you know him personally."

Bumblebee mumbled under his breath, "You have no idea…"

Fernblade raised a metallic brow at him, considering that thought that Optimus must have known Sentinel in ways she had never seen. She'd heard that Sentinel hated Optimus Prime, and for a deep reason that she wasn't sure about. She'd seen him angry, but not as angry as when someone had commented on Optimus's team on Earth, which made Sentinel lose his processer. She had never stuck around to see the end of those arguments.

"So what are you going to do, Fernblade? You can't just hang around Earth waiting for something to pop up." Prowl questioned as he tilted his head at her.

Fernblade shrugged, but before she could answer, Optimus's voice broke in.

"You could stay with us until you decide if you'd like Fernblade."

The femme gave him a weak smile, but actually thought about it. It was a kind offer, and what else could she do? It was a sudden suggestion, but she betted that it would be a lot better than having to face her leader again. Fernblade pondered over the thought before nodding.

"Well, I guess it beats going back. So, why not?"

A brief light passed over Optimus's face for a Nano-click. Was it relief? Sadness? Happiness? She couldn't tell, for it was so fast that she barely had time to actually see.

"We've got an extra room in case there was a guest." Sari declared as she stood up. She took Fernblade's hand, and to her surprise, pulled out a jet pack and started flying. Jerking her hand, she led her toward the hallway.

"C'mon! I'll show ya."

Fernblade started to regain her balance and began to walk after her as the human disappeared into the hallway. She glanced over her shoulder to look at the others one more time before rounding the corner. She lost track of where Sari had gone, but chose to make her way to the back, thinking that she would catch her there. She walked up a flight of stairs, her optics glowing in the darkness. There were no lights on in the halls, but she could see in the dimness. She heard some movement and turned to look inside an open doorway. Inside, she spotted the human picking up some pieces of paper.

"Sorry," she said as Fernblade walked in, "this place is a mess. I forgot that there was trash in here."

Fernblade shook her head. "It's fine. I'll manage."

A bright smile lit up the girl's face as she stood up and dropped some paper into the large bucket. She then turned on her jetpack again and was hovering around the room, observing the conditions of it.

"Well! Here ya are! Hope this is ok for you." She said, crossing her arms.

Fernblade smiled and rested her hands on her hips. "It's great. Thanks."

Sari grinned happily. "Sure thing! Need anything, just as any of us."

The femme watched as the small human flew out of the room, the door automatically closing behind her. Left alone in the room, she sighed as she walked to the window. She pulled a chair that was sitting in the corner to the window and sat down, looking out at the lot below. She rested her arms on the windowsill and leaned her head against the wall. It was quiet in the room. She then began to wonder about the mission she was on. Maybe it was a big waste of time. Maybe there was no weapon that was a threat to them. Maybe someone had just started to rumor to add excitement to their work on Cybertron. Cybertron had been very quiet lately. Mostly the only things that were considered 'fun' anymore was guessing games or throwing a metal ball back and forth.

She sighed deeply, feeling her optics grow heavy. She could see the sky turning pink as the sun was about to sink behind the town's buildings. Soon the stars would be out and recharge would be on to her like a shadow, not that it wasn't right now. She let her optics search for something to keep her thinking outside. She then raised her head, hearing commotion on the first floor. The femme was about to go down and investigate, but something outside caught her attention. It was a large vehicle, red and blue. She then recognized it as Optimus's alt mode and rested her head on her arms as she watched as he drove hurriedly away and onto the road, his sirens blaring and his lights flashing. She guessed that there was an emergency that he was on his way to. A few seconds later she spotted Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Prowl following in the same rushing speed, their sirens piercing the air and their lights blinding as well.

Fernblade sighed, too tired to even think about joining to see what was going on. She let her mind wonder for a while. Suddenly Optimus's image crept into her mind, surprising her. She blinked, now thinking about the mech kept her awake. She thought how he had carried her on the way to this warehouse. He was so gentle, so worried, so… concerned. Every time she had gotten injured, Sentinel never tried to help her. He only said to suck it up and go with it. She wasn't used to being cared for like this. She was used to being alone most of the time. She had never had a partner before. She knew Jazz very well, and they were good friends, but they never considered themselves as partners in combat. She'd never had a spark-mate either, nor a 'boyfriend' in human terms. So, she wasn't sure what to think about her emotions lately today. Sure, Optimus seemed like a sweet mech. Caring, kind, responsible, mature, but she didn't know him at all. She could only read that much of him. But, was that a lot, or a little that she knew of him?

She groaned. Her head was hurting again.

_Maybe I'm worrying myself too much? _She shook her head, trying to make the throbbing go away. Suddenly after a few minutes a knock interrupted the silence.

"Yo, can I come in?" It was Jazz's voice.

Fernblade looked over her shoulder. "Sure, come in."

The door opened and Jazz walked in, a smile on his face. But that smile formed into a questioning frown. "Are you okay? You looked horrible."

She rolled her optics at him, shaking her head. "Thanks, I try to look my best."

He then threw his hands up in defense. "Hey, don't take it the wrong way. I mean, you look like something's wrong."

The femme smiled and sat up straighter. "It's nothing, Jazz. I've just had a long and odd day." She stated, leaning back in the chair.

Jazz's mouth curved. She remembered that smile from the last time they saw each other, which was two or three years ago. He was going to leave to stay with Optimus's team on Earth. She had missed him, for he was a good friend, one that she could talk to about problems. The problem was though, she couldn't see him often, for their work shifts were different. So they could only see each other if they happened to pass by each other in the hall or if she had to deliver something to Sentinel. When he'd left, her time on Cybertron had been too quiet. Jazz had always added a spark of life there, even if they didn't see each other as often as she would have liked.

"But you're okay, though, right?"

She snapped her head up, and hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, don't worry about me." She smiled again, and then raised a brow. "Where did the others go?"

Jazz shrugged. "Oh, another fire broke out. But it was near a gas station, so they left AFAPWC."

"AFAPWC?" she asked.

He waved his hand. "As Fast As Possible Without Crashing."

Fernblade smiled, and a small laugh smoothly followed. She shook her head and looked at Jazz with a knowing smile. "Well, I guess I'm going to try to recharge."

Jazz nodded. "Yeah, sure. See ya in the morning."

The femme waved. "Okay, see ya."

Jazz walked out the door, leaving her alone again in the silent room. She sat in the chair, not doing anything for a long while. She wondered if she was really wanting to go to bed right now, but she shook her head and stood up to walk to her berth. She placed a hand on it and sat down on it, leaning back to close her eyes.

But, before the blackness could close in on her, an image formed in her processer one last time. His red and blue armor glowed and his optics shined as his face was lit up by a warm smile. He was a kind bot who would haunt the rest of her dreams that night. But that wasn't a bad thing to her, because she never wanted to wake up from this dream. She wanted to live this dream for the rest of her life…


	3. Chapter 3

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Chapter Three**

** "**Optimus, I need help!" a voice shouted shrilly into the living room.

Optimus jerked his head and let his processer snap back into reality. Then Prime stood up and sprinted down the hall toward the sound of Bumblebee's frantic voice. Please let him be ok! Please let him be ok! He skidded the corner and looked inside Prowl's room at the tree. Suddenly his panic burned into annoyance.

Bulkhead was at the base of the large tree looking up at the branches with Prowl standing beside him. Jazz was standing with his arms crossed at the base of the tree. When Optimus looked up, he saw that Bumblebee was hanging from one of the thick branches by his legs, tangled in some rope that was wrapped tightly around the branch. Sari was standing on the tree beside Bumblebee as he dangled below, a large, amused grin on her face.

Optimus grumbled to himself as he walked over, standing beside Prowl.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

Prowl shrugged at him, an expressionless look in his optics. He didn't look up at his leader when he spoke. "Stupidity mixed up with nature is what happened in my understanding. I wasn't in the room when it happened."

"He wanted to climb the tree using rope, and got stuck on the way down, OP." Jazz stated as he walked back beside Prowl.

The Prime rolled his optics and glared at Bumblebee, who was giving him a shy, guilty smile and twirling his thumbs together. Optimus sighed, and then reached and grabbed his axe. Prowl's optics widened almost as big as his fist.

"You're not going to cut the _tree _down, are you?" he questioned, panic rising in his usually calm and cool voice.

"No, I'm not, Prowl." Optimus replied flatly as he lunged up into the tree, crossing his legs around the same branch that Bumblebee was on so that he hung upside down. The tree was so large in this warehouse that it could hold up his heavy weight, though the branch creaked slightly when he dangled from it, it held a steady strength.

Optimus tucked his axe between his feet before he fingered the rope, hoping that he wouldn't have to use it at all. He found that the knot was tied above the branch, so he had to pull his abdomen up like a pull up in exercise. He tried to pull at a few parts of the rope, thinking he'd loosen it. But when Bumblebee groaned, he looked down over his shoulder.

"Jeez, just cut it already!"

Optimus rolled his optics and tried to pull at the rope again. He thought it started to come loose, and tried again a few more times. He was too focused on untying the rope that he didn't see who was at the doorway, leaning against the side with her legs crossed as she watched them in amusement.

"What are you guys doing?"

Optimus suddenly yelped, accidently losing his grip on the branch. He landed with a hard bang as he hit the tile floor, his axe landing not too far off. As the clang of the weapon echoed through the room, Fernblade tilted her head as she looked at the Autobot on the ground. He was leaned against the tree upside down, almost like how Bumblebee was the day before after the accident.

The others started to laugh, and even Prowl chuckled as he looked at the Prime, who was as embarrassed as a lost comedian on stage. Optimus groaned and tilted his head back and blinked for a moment. "Oh, hey, Fernblade."

The femme blinked back, as if studying the situation. She then waved. "Hey, need help?"

"YES!" The others looked up at Bumblebee as he had his arms crossed and a frown plastered on his face. "Some help would be super."

Optimus watched as Fernblade shrugged and trotted toward the tree. Then she easily jumped onto the side, grabbing a branch and pulling herself up onto the branch Bumblebee was on.

"Whoa…" Optimus muttered to himself as he looked up, still in the same position that he fell. He could see her from where he was, and was surprised of how she was s calmly sitting way up in the tree. He was actually nervous when he was up higher, remembering the time he'd fallen during the time he'd tried to save the Allspark from ending up in Starscream's hands. He saw her hand switch into a blade, and she looked it over. He was curious of what she was doing, for he couldn't see well from the ground. But he realized what she was doing. Once Bumblebee had already landed on his abdomen.

They both groaned as Bumblebee sat up, sitting on Optimus's gut. He was rubbing his head before his leader suddenly shoved him off. Optimus then sat up too, shaking his head. He then looked up at Fernblade, who was sitting in the same way that they had met in the woods on the tree branch. He was in a trance for the smallest of moments. The way she laid there on the branch was almost hypnotizing. Before it became obvious that he was staring, he scolded himself mentally, and then he stood up.

"Nicely done, Fernblade." Prowl said with a smirk, looking at Optimus and Bumblebee.

Bulkhead let Sari, who dropped down from the tree, sit on his shoulder. "Yeah," she said, "very smooth."

Fernblade smiled sweetly and rested her chin on her hands. She gave Optimus a funny smile that confused him in a way, and annoyed him in another.

Optimus rolled his optics and started to walk out of the room, anger and another feeling clouding his mind and spark.

"Hey, Optimus? Are you okay?"

He didn't look back at her voice, for he knew if he did, he would go offline at the sight of her again at that moment. Instead he nodded calmly and barely turned his head, showing the small, unsure smile he was wearing. He didn't look at them directly, and then walked out of the room, keeping his feet from hitting the ground harder than they should.

He rounded the corner and spotted Ratchet working on a tool of some sort. He seemed to be having trouble with it, for he was struggling with untightening a bolt. Hoping that maybe, somehow or another, that talking to Ratchet would ease his thoughts, Optimus slowly stepped up to the old medic's side, watching him work.

"If you don't mind, could you lend a servo instead of watching over my shoulder?" Ratchet growled, frowning.

Optimus frantically nodded and then blinked. "What do you want me to do?"

Ratchet handed him a wrench. "Try to untighten this."

The Prime sighed and did as told; only taking a few tries to loosen the large bolt. The medic stared at him for a moment, and then rubbed his arm. "Maybe I need to start working on my body building…"

Optimus shook his head and sat down on a chair, a deep sigh escaping from his mouth before he could catch it. He wished that it didn't, because Ratchet was then glaring at him.

"What's wrong with you?"

Optimus looked away. "Nothing."

Ratchet crossed his arms and had a look saying 'I know something is wrong so you better tell it.' Optimus groaned, and then looked back at him.

"What are you working on?" He said, hoping so badly that he could change the subject.

"Optimus…" the medic warned.

"Alright, alright!" Optimus sighed and didn't look the older bot in the optics. "I've been having these weird feelings lately."

"Weird feelings?" Ratchet raised a brow. "You're not sick, are you?"

Optimus shook his head calmly. "No, I think it has to do with something else."

"Such as…?"

He rolled his optics slightly, beating himself in his mind. He hated how Ratchet had wanted to butt in on his problems. He always did. Once the old timer knew something was up, he never let the subject go. He wanted only to help, he knew that. But… Optimus really didn't want to share this one. He didn't want it to slip that he may be… in love with the femme that was staying in their home. This was too personal, and besides, she would have to leave anyway. She would have to go back to Sentinel and the Elite Guard and Cybertron… Scrap. He didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay. He hated himself. He had only met her yesterday. _Yesterday_! He hardly knew her and she hardly knew him. But… why was he having these feelings? Why had he grown on her so quickly? He saw the look she gave him a minute ago. It looked like she was trying to use charm in the situation, which really got under his nerves.

But… what if it was natural? He might have just been weak to it because he hadn't been touched by a femme like that. He knew Elita One, or Blackarachnia, had been a good friend, and that he thought that he loved her, but it all ended badly. Fernblade was… different. She had a look in her optics that seemed to send his spark humming.

He hated this. He didn't know what to say to the medic, who was still eying him as he sat there lost in thought. He looked back at Ratchet, letting his optics show the dimness that he sometimes had when he was unsure. He was confused, too lost. He was never lost. He didn't know what to do, or wasn't prepared to experience this.

"Oh… I see. It's… hard to speak about?"

Optimus looked back up. "Yes. I'm afraid it is."

Ratchet nodded slowly, his frown disappearing and a calm expression clouding his optics. He was silent for a long moment before suddenly an alarm went off on the radio. Both of the bots looked at each other before standing up.

Optimus looked to the hallway, now the others were rushing back into the living room with serious but questioning faces. Sari rushed to the radio and turned the volume up. Then the voice came back.

"_A man seems to have taken people hostage at the bank along with two families and the bank managers. The criminal is demanding that the… Autobots to come forth, because he has something that he'd like to show them."_

The bots and techno organic looked at each other, concern filling there optics.

"Why do you think he wants _us_?" Bumblebee asked.

The others shrugged, and then Fernblade frowned. "It could be a trap."

Optimus nodded, now forgetting the feelings he had earlier. "Maybe. But if that man is threatening the people in that bank, we must go before he hurts someone."

Prowl and Bulkhead nodded as well as Bumblebee and Ratchet. They had their minds set, and weren't changing it. Optimus nodded, then he turned toward the door.

"Autobots! Transform, and roll out!"

Then they all transformed into their vehicle modes, and started to drive outside the building and onto the road. Fernblade glared after them. She didn't have a good feeling about it, Optimus knew that. But when it came to somebody threatening innocent lives because they wanted to see them, by Primus, he was going to do something about it. But, then, as he looked in his rearview mirror at the femme standing outside the warehouse, an unsettling feeling settled itself right in his chest. He wondered if she had the same feeling too…

He then cleared his processer. He had more important things happening right now. They needed to get to the bank and see what this person wanted from them.

Fernblade growled to herself as she watched the other Autobots disappear down the highway. How could they be so foolish? How could they just go rushing off like that without a plan?

_Primus… what am I going to do now? _She thought to herself, sitting on the ground. She leaned her chin against her hands with a heavy sigh. Those stupid bots didn't know what was going to happen. She knew something wasn't right. She had seen this before back on Cybertron a long time ago. And it scarred her for life.

"I won't let it happen again…" she muttered before standing up and straightening herself. She then transformed, flicked on her protoform, and sped off, slinging pebbles and dust as she drove off away from the warehouse.

"Optimus, what do you suppose that organic wants from us?"

Optimus waited for a moment before speaking. "I don't know."

"So," Bumblebee started as he drove near Jazz. "We don't know what we are up against, but yet we are just going to drive in and do whatever the human wants us to?"

Optimus held a stern voice. "No. We are going to try to negotiate with the human. We have to try to get him to leave the other humans alone."

"But how are we going to do that?" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know, so… just let me think." Optimus sighed.

They all fell silent as they drove into the bank's parking lot. Other humans were shouting at the bots to do what the man wants. Some said he had a bomb. Some said he had a gun. All the bots knew was that the organic had a weapon of some sort. They stopped and waited for a few seconds before transforming into their normal modes. They looked at the building. It had a fancy brick outside, with hardly any cracks. They stood outside for a while before Optimus called.

"Alright, we are here. What do you want with us?"

A few minutes passed by. No one came out of the building. Optimus frowned, and called again.

"Whoever you are, leave the humans inside alone and come out." He ordered, more firmly this time.

A second later a man walked out of the door. He was a thin man with brown hair. He was tall and had a purple shirt with blue jeans and cowboy boots. As he smirked at the Autobots, Optimus noticed that the man had solid red eyes. They looked as if they almost glowed. Optimus studied the man as he held a weapon of some sort. It looked like a gun of some sort. But what gun would be hooked some a machine strapped to his back?

"Ok, robot, tell your crew to step back." The man demanded.

Optimus glared at him, not saying anything. He barely looked over his shoulder and nodded to the others. Bumblebee and Ratchet went to protest, but stopped themselves when they say their leader's stern face. The other Autobots hesitantly took some steps back. The other humans glared at them. Some whispered. "Couldn't they just stomp on him?" "What are they scared of? They are huge metal robots, capable of stopping him easily…"

Ratchet turned his head, giving them a cold expression. They stepped back and grew silent. The team looked back at Optimus.

"Ok, what do you want?" he asked.

The human tapped his machine with his fingers, a grin growing. For a small minute, he looked like the joker on that Batman movie Sari watched one time.

"I just wanted to experience with an invention of mine. See, I admire how you robots are so… alive, but yet you are made of metal. If this machine works, then I could change this entire town, this city, this," he paused in thought for a moment, but also it looked like he wanted to add some drama, "_Earth_."

The bots behind Optimus gave each other quizzical looked. What was this organic talking about? Optimus frowned and bent his knees a bit. He glared at the human just as the human was smirking at him. He was now really concerned about what this human was going to do. Apparently that machine could do something, but he couldn't do anything about it because he didn't want to risk him hurting the other people around them.

"Alright, what do you plan on doing with that thing?" he asked, looking the human in the eye.

The human's grin grew wider and wider until it looked as if his mouth was the length of his face. He lifted the gun-like object.

"This."

Suddenly the mech was blinded by a bright blue light and pushed by a force that almost knocked him off his feet. He covered his optics, raising his arms in front of his face and let one foot slide back to get better balance. Suddenly he lost his footing and slid backwards, landing on his back. It was almost painful; it felt as if an electric bolt was running through his body. Then the pain grew, and grew, and did so more until it made him yell. He'd felt pain worse than this, Primus he'd been offline before. But… this was a different pain. It was a humming pain that seemed to pulse in his very spark. It made his processer fuzzy and his vision double. He thought he was seeing two of everything.

Then, suddenly the light and force faded, disappearing as fast as they started. He opened his optics. He sat up and shook his head to clear his processer. The man had suddenly disappeared. Everyone looked around. Where had he gone? People inside the bank started to creep out, still cautious from the break in. They looked questioningly at the bot lying on the ground, still confused and bewildered. He blinked, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. What had happened? What did that ray do? What was it _supposed_ to do? He didn't know. But, he did feel something odd. He felt his spark… buzz? Hum? He couldn't tell what the feeling was. But it was almost sickening, the way it throbbed and seemed to drop into his gut.

Resting a hand on his abdomen, he slowly stood up. Ratchet was at his side too fast to even know he was there at all. Bumblebee was in front of him and the others were surrounding him. He, at the moment, had no clue what was happening or that they were even there.

"Optimus! Optimus! Prime! Listen to me. Can you hear me?"

The bot's optics widened and he gasped, suddenly snapping back into the real world. He shook his head.

"Huh? What?" he asked.

Ratchet shook his shoulders. "Are you alright, Prime?"

Optimus didn't answer. He just stood there blankly. His optics were dimmer than usual. He was lost again. What was happening? What was going on?

Ratchet looked at the others. "We need to get back to the warehouse. I need to run a check over him."

Optimus started to sway, making Prowl step next to his side and trying to help him balance. "He might not be able to transform."

"You bots get to your place. I and my troops will search for the man." Captain Fanzone informed from his car before speeding off.

So the bots worked to get Optimus to move his legs to walk. He was almost like a dummy. He didn't even seem to be online. They pushed him, pulled him, hit him in the head, and even tried to pick him up. But, he didn't want to move.

"He isn't paralyzed, is he, Ratchet?" Sari asked, knocking on his head, wishing that it would wake him up.

The old bot shook his head as he scanned him. "No. I don't know what that human did to him, but I know one thing. It made Optimus so confused that he can't cooperate at all."

The others looked down, all mentally wishing that it was them who were senseless. Without Optimus, they didn't know what to do. He was the one who gave the orders. He was the one who knew what to do at times like this. What were they going to do? What could they do? They all snapped their heads up when they heard the sound of an engine. They saw Fernblade rushing toward them. She stopped in front of them before transforming.

She took one look at Optimus and then frowned. "What happened to him?"

They all shook their heads, not sure what to say. Even Ratchet even knew what to do. As they explained what happened, she nodded as the story went on. She glanced at Optimus periodically as he stood motionless. She thought hard before turning to him.

"We need to get him to sit somewhere."

"Where?" Bumblebee asked.

"I don't care, just sit him anywhere. That tree will do fine."

After they got him to sit and lean against the tree, Fernblade bent down beside him, looking at his optics. They seemed too pale, the blue was not sky blue, more like a cloudy day. She waved a hand in front of his face, testing if they moved at all. They barely did, but just a flicker. She frowned for a moment and turned around.

"It looks like his processer shut down temporarily."

Ratchet crossed his arms. "How, he's still online."

"I said temporarily. He isn't offline, he's just… out of it, you could say." She said, resting a knee on the grass. She pointed to her head. "It's like he's not in his head anymore. We need to wait here until he recovered from that."

Jazz tilted his head. "How do you know what is wrong with him when Ratchet didn't find anything with his scanners?"

Fernblade shrugged. "It's not a physical problem. It's a mental problem, so you can't pick it up on a scanner unless it was upgraded."

He nodded and sighed. "So, now what?"

"We need to stay here. We can't move him too much, or that'd confuse him any more than he is now."

"But I thought you said he was out of it." Prowl stated, resting his hands rest on his sides.

She placed a hand on their leader's arm. "He may not be actually thinking, but his physical feelings can mix with that and he'd probably go hysterical."

"Hysterical?" Bulkhead repeated, confused himself.

The femme groaned and shook her head, waving a hand at them. "Never mind, I'll explain later."

But at that same moment, Optimus's optics grew brighter. They came from the pale dimness and were glowing until they seemed like flashlights. He suddenly sat up higher, gasping. The others stepped back, while Fernblade scooted backwards. He shook his head frantically, closing his optics and yelling.

Optimus felt as if his spark was cracking, his processer was splitting, and his body was pulsing. He was awake in the mind at last, but he now felt the excruciating pain that seemed to be tearing him apart.

_What is happening to me? What…what happened to me? Why am I hurting so badly? _Optimus snapped his optics open, seeing only blur. He couldn't make out any colors, nor could he tell what was what.

The others continued to step back, for now Optimus's body was glowing. A few seconds later and he was so bright that they couldn't look at him.

"What's going on?" Sari yelled before Bumblebee snatched her up and held her against his chest.

"I-I don't know!" Prowl replied as he covered his optics.

Fernblade grunted as she raised her arm, squinting at Optimus. He looked as if he was growing smaller and smaller. The light was dimming now, and the force was easing. He was now a lot smaller, and… they all gasped when the light disappeared. What they saw was not their leader. He was not the big bot that fought Megatron, he was not the bot who lead them into battle, nor was he the bot who was… Optimus.

Fernblade gasped again, he was so small… she picked him up in her hands. What had happened to him astonished her, and made her spark burn. What had happened to him? This was something that she had never heard of before. This was out of her world of science, out of her whole world. She didn't know what to think of him like this. The weapon that she had come to look for in the first place had been here in Detroit all along. The bad part was that she had been too late. Was it even a weapon at all, for it to turn Optimus into this?

The others crept closer, kneeling down next to her. They weren't sure what to think… their leader lying in her hands like that. He was so tiny, so… they didn't know what to do. All they could do was watch as Fernblade cradled Optimus in her arms. He opened his optics, blinking up at the bots and femme that surrounded him. He didn't know what was going on, but he nuzzled closer to Fernblade's chest, a little frightened. He was curious about who they were. They were so big, so odd. Who were they?

Fernblade looked at Ratchet with sorrow in her optics. She was silent, and so was Ratchet There was simply no words to describe this. Optimus was not the Optimus Prime they knew anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Hey again! Okay, I have been having some people comment about this story about being a cliffhanger, but that's how I roll. I sometimes do it on purpose because I like to keep people on their toes until they die of anticipation! Just Kidding! Well, now that we've got that cleared, let's get on with the chapter. **

**Chapter Four**

"What do you mean that _I _have to take care of him?!" Fernblade shrieked, not so loudly, but loud enough to make Ratchet bring his hands up in defense.

"I don't mean anything by it, Fernblade. But he has taken on to you since yesterday." He said frantically.

Ratchet knew that one of the worst things you could come across was a very angry femme. He knew that they could raise their vocals higher in ways mechs couldn't, and pierce a bot's audio. They would get this flame in their optics that would burn another femme or mech that they were angry at. Now, Fernblade didn't have that certain fierceness, but she did glare at him as if she wanted to beat him to a pulp.

She growled. "Is it just because I'm the only female means that I have to take him? For Primus's sake, he's your leader."

Ratchet shook his head softly. "Not anymore. He can't take care of himself and… in a way, it is because you're a female."

"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

Ratchet fumbled with his hands for a minute, not really sure how to speak to her in a calm way. He then sighed. "Fernblade, sparklings are more attached to… females, because they see them as…um…, well, their mother." He frowned calmly, looking the femme in the optics. "They are too young to understand mechs in ways and… they usually think of femmes as the caretaker because they are so, well, mostly calm most of the time."

"Fernblade, he really isn't that bad of a sparkling. He's actually kind of cute."

They turned to Bulkhead and Bumblebee with Optimus. Bulkhead was holding him while Bumblebee was making faces at him. The little sparkling squealed happily and started to giggle. Fernblade watched them for a second before shaking her head.

"No. No, no, no! I have never had any experience with sparklings, much less one that had been a Prime."

"I know that, Fernblade. But, this is Optimus we're talking about. I'm sure that… he might have been a well minded sparkling, so he must be now."

"Ouch!"

They looked at Bumblebee, who was rubbing his head. Optimus was holding one of Ratchet's wrenches, giggling at the yellow bot while he waved the wrench in the air above his head. Ratchet rolled his optics and, before Optimus could throw it, snatched it from his hand, earning a whine and a pout.

Fernblade frowned at the whimpering sparkling. "Yeah… well minded…"

The older bot groaned. "Look, I was probably wrong, but sparklings will be sparklings. You just have to know what to do with them." He scooped Optimus up, patting him on the back as he started to cry. His face had gotten a puffed up looked and his optics swelled. His cries were sharp yelps, and make Fernblade cringe.

"Primus, could you make him stop?"

Ratchet surprised her by placing Optimus in her arms. She blinked as he stopped crying. He then snuggled against her chest, a small sigh blowing from his body. She was speechless for a minute. She didn't know what to do with him nor what to say about it. She had never handled a youngling before, but somehow one way or another, she had made him stop whining. She looked back at Ratchet.

"Um… what do I do with him?"

"Just hold him and keep him happy." He replied as he turned around to work on something on the table. She stared wide-eyed as Optimus opened his optics and looked up at her. They shined as they fixed onto her own. They stared at each other for a minute. She wasn't sure what to do at the moment, and let a soft groan slip out. Suddenly Jazz was at her side.

"Hey, don't worry about it, Fern. We'll find a way to turn him back to his adult form." He then chuckled at the way Optimus was looking at her. She looked down at him too, noticing that he was smiling. She couldn't help but smile back. He… was kind of cute. He was very little, and felt fragile in her arms. She kept a firm grip, just in case he decided to start struggling. But, he didn't. He just sat there, content in her arms. If she didn't know any better, she'd think that he actually _liked _her holding him. She looked back at Jazz.

"I don't know what to do, Jazz. I've never handled a sparkling…"

He smiled reassuringly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine, Fern. He won't be a sparkling long enough for you to have to know what to do."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because I can feel it. I know that we'll find that human that did this to him, and we'll make him change him."

Fernblade nodded, still feeling unsure about the idea of _her_ taking care of Optimus sparkling. She had never had a sparkling before, and didn't know when one was hungry, needed change, was tired, or anything. She did know one thing though. Whenever Optimus was around her, he never complained about anything. He was always quiet, and… always staring at her… He always watched what she was doing, which was a bit creepy to her. She wondered if he still had the same mind as when he was an adult. Just the thought of that made her feel awkward whenever she was forced to hold him near her. If he still had the same mind, why wasn't he protesting to being so close to her, to her chest? Did he like it? Was he one of those bots that would pay big to be this close to a femme, and was now taking advantage? This thought enraged her, but… what if his mind was that of a sparkling's? Maybe he was just acting on instinct, like Ratchet said about sparklings being more comfortable around femmes?

"Are you okay, Fern?" Jazz's voice broke into her thoughts.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, Jazz. I need to sit down though."

She then walked over to the sofa, with Jazz sitting next to her as she settled down. She let Optimus get fixed in her arms, then sticking his thumb in his mouth and blinking his large, bright blue optics. Jazz then started to tickle the sparkling's chin, causing Optimus to giggle and wriggle. Fernblade smiled, finding that it was really cute. If jazz ever thought about settling down to raise a family, she guessed that he would be a great father. He had helped her with Optimus ever since he'd been turned into a sparkling. He'd hold him whenever she refused to hold him, he'd play with him and let Bumblebee and Bulkhead see him, too. He'd been so gentle, so sweet to him.

She then repositioned her arms, now allowing Optimus to sit up as Jazz continued to play with him. The little sparkling giggled, waving his arms at Jazz before snuggling up into her chest, a large smile on his face and his optics shining brightly. He really seemed happy.

"If I didn't know you two, I'd think that you were his parents." Ratchet's voice called from the back.

Fernblade and Jazz looked at each other in wonder for a moment. Fernblade then rolled her optics. Jazz chuckled and looked back down at Optimus. The sparkling's optics were closing; now looking heavy. She heard a laugh from Bumblebee and Bulkhead around near Sari. When she looked over the arm of the couch, she saw that they were playing on a large tablet-like game. Bumblebee yelped, causing Optimus to stir. Fernblade glared at them.

"Shh!" she hissed, putting a finger to her lips and pointing to the sparkling in her lap. They got the message and went silent. She sighed and leaned back against the sofa. She was sleepy herself, and considered putting Optimus in the small crib-like bed that Ratchet had made for him and going to take a stasis-nap. But she changed her mind as she watched him in her arms. He was asleep now, and very calm. He hardly moved as Jazz put a hand on her shoulder. He could see the doubt in her optics, and smiled at her softly.

She smiled back at him, grateful that he was there to help her. He had helped her on Cybertron whenever she had problems with the other workers, such as lack of staff in the storage areas and when Sentinel needed her to take something to somewhere or someone. He'd always been there before he had left. She had a tougher time with work afterwards, having to do things by herself and having to suffer Sentinel's orders alone. She missed Jazz, and was glad to have found him here.

"What are ya thinking 'bout?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, just about the… weapon and how we are going to turn Optimus back to normal."

Jazz grinned. "I know that wasn't what you were thinking about. C'mon, tell me the truth."

She laughed quietly, shaking her head. "Alright, I'm thinking about how great it is to have a good friend back."

His optics' shades then dimmed. He looked away for a moment. Fernblade then swallowed. _Did I say something wrong? _She stared at him for a moment in wonder before he turned back toward her.

"I'm sorry, Fern. I didn't mean to leave you like that…" he said quietly.

Fernblade tilted her head, and then smiled meekly at him. "Hey, you did what was right, from what I heard. It's okay." She watched as he started to smile a bit, hopefully he felt better. She suddenly looked down, for Optimus had unexpectedly woke up and began crying. Her optics widened as he started to wriggle and tried to make her let go. By instinct, she began to tighten her grip on him.

"Hey now, Optimus! Shush, shush, it's okay!" she said, trying to calm him.

Ratchet was immediately at her side. "What happened?"

She hesitated. "I don't know, Ratchet, he woke up and just started crying."

He then took Optimus and went to his table. She sighed and leaned her chin on her hands. She didn't know what to think. Optimus, a Prime, a great fighter, a bot that has battled Megatron, has been reduced to a pint sized sparkling that cries and whines. She groaned and rubbed her face. She looked back at Jazz.

"When are we going to go look for that organic?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not we, us." He pointed to the other bots. "You will be staying here looking after OP."

Her jaw dropped. "What? I have to stay here?"

He nodded. "Yep, that's right. But that won't be a problem for you."

"It won't?" she sighed.

He shook his head, smiling. "He's just s sparkling. What's so bad about taking care of him?"

She then looked away, her optics clouding up. She didn't want him to see her sudden change in emotion. So she stood up and shook her head. "Nothing." She then began to walk off, on her way to her room. She could hear Optimus's sharp cries behind her as she turned the corner down the hall, leaving a bewildered Jazz and a struggling Ratchet in the room with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and sari now loudly playing their game. Closing her optics, she muttered. "Nothing, except the fact that the bot I care for is the sparkling I am taking care of…"

Emotions clouded her processer. Why did she come to love the bot so much? Optimus and she had only met two days ago, and didn't know each other. She didn't know him, but somehow he seemed to leave her spark humming. She tried to think of why he did, but could not figure out why. She'd hear humans say that love was a strange thing, and that love is also random at times. Was this a 'random love'?

She walked down the hall, trying to be as quiet as she could as she started to pass Prowl's room. She suddenly stopped herself, peering in to see what a bright glowing was. When she saw it, she tilted her head. Prowl was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room in front of the tree, his back to her and silent. She wondered what he was doing, and wanted to go in and ask, but seeing that he looked… busy, she shook her head and started to walk toward the stairway.

"Fernblade?"

The femme stopped at her name. She turned back around and poked her head in prowl's room.

"Yes?" she replied quietly.

He hadn't moved at all. He was still sitting in the same position, making her wonder if he really spoke at all.

"Are you alright? You seem troubled." He spoke in a steady tone.

_You said it. _She took a step into the room, stopping at the entrance. "May I come in?"

She saw him barely nod, so she walked closer, sitting beside him. She looked at him, and saw that he was gazing at the tree. She looked at it too, wondering what had put him in the silent trance. She was quiet for a minute before she heard his voice.

"What is troubling you, Fernblade?"

She didn't look at him. "Nothing."

"I know something is wrong."

She sighed. "Prowl, it's kind of personal."

"So you are going to let it build up inside you until you let it hurt you?" he asked calmly, finally turning his head to look at her. She saw that his expression was stern, but concerned.

She waited, considering her words before replying. "No. I just don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Optimus has been acting the same way, too."

She then raised a brow at him. "Really?"

He nodded softly, almost as if he didn't move at all. She now knew why Bumblebee had referred him as the Ninjabot. He seemed to not move at all when he _did _move at all. She had to really watch him when he made a motion. But then she pondered over what he had said. Optimus had been acting the same way she had? What did that mean?

"Do you find him interesting?" Prowl asked.

She snapped her head toward him, her optics wide. "What?"

"Do you Find Optimus interesting or, attractive in other words."

Fernblade let out a hysterical laugh. Was he really asking this question? Who in the name of Primus would ask that? Did _he _like her? She was the only femme there. When was the last time these bots ever had time with a female? She looked back at Prowl, who in which was still watching her.

"Uh… why are you asking this, Prowl?" she asked, gathering herself. "Isn't this a little odd to talk about?"

He shook his head. "I've noticed things these last few days. Optimus has been… stressed. He's been… alone. He still was even when you came." He stopped for a moment's thought. He then looked her in the optics. "I noticed that he's changed though."

"What?" she asked.

"He seems to… await something."

"Await? Like he's waiting for something to happen?"

He nodded. "Yes, exactly."

Fernblade nodded meekly. This was strange for her, of all the bots here, this one would be speaking to her about this subject. He was a quiet type, not very social. She could see that. But this was weird for him to be talking about her and Optimus in randomness. What was he up to?

She gasped when something touched her leg. She looked down, only to find Optimus staring at her, optics wide and bright. The sparkling tapped her hand, which was resting on her knee. Prowl looked blankly at him.

"He seems to like you, even as a sparkling."

She gave him a quizzical look. "What do you mean, 'even as a sparkling'?"

He nodded toward Optimus. "I knew he liked you as an adult. He always had his optics on you. Some emotions he can hide, but others he sometimes can't keep away from others' optics."

She blinked slowly before looking down at Optimus. He was trying to crawl into her lap. She lifted her arms hesitantly, allowing him to crawl and to sit in her lap. She wondered if he had waggled all the way from the living room, or whether someone brought him. She sighed, letting him grab her hand. What was she to do? She _did _love Optimus, but… not like this. He was senseless and defenseless. She couldn't just raise him like her own child if they didn't catch the human that turned him into this in the first place. What was going to happen to him?

"You're protective over him?"

She shook her head. "What?"

"The way you have him close to your abdomen and letting him hold your hand says your protecting him. You do love him, don't you?"

She stammered, not knowing what to say. She looked back down at Optimus. He was looking at her with those huge optics that looked too large for his head. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he think she was his mother? Did he think she was related to him in any way at all? Ratchet did say that sparklings took on to femmes more than mechs. She wondered about that also. Why did they do that anyway?

_I wouldn't be surprised about it if I saw Sentinel with a sparkling… _she thought to herself. Looking back at Prowl, she nodded ever so slightly.

"Yes… I care about him very much. I don't know why though. I hardly know him." At that same minute Optimus sat up and slipped out of her lap and crawled over to Prowl. Optimus then started to mess with his brocket boosters.

"Shouldn't he leave those alone?" Fernblade asked.

Prowl smiled slightly and shook his head. "It's fine. As long as he doesn't trigger any nerves, he'll be fine."

She smiled at him. "Nerves?"

"Wiring that goes with my boosters. It he triggers them, the rockets will go off and-," Suddenly Optimus pulled a wire in the back of one of the rockets, making Prowl's optics widen as a small spark flickered from the rocket. Fernblade was about to grab the sparkling, but before she could, he laughed and pulled the wire again. Suddenly the boosters exploded, sending Prowl into the air.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Prowl's yell was so loud that she was surprised that his vocals continued to function. While Prowl was frantic in the air, zipping from left to right, up and down, side to side, Optimus was squealing with laughter as he rolled on the floor. Fernblade couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her. Then she started bursting out laughing when Prowl hit a branch on the large tree. He landed on the ground with a thud, groaning as his boosters' fire faded and cut off.

Fernblade snatched up Optimus and jogged over to Prowl, who was still lying on the floor, rubbing his head. He sat up slowly, a dizzy look on his face.

"Ha-ha! I think you need to work on that wiring."

He frowned at her, then a smile crept on his face as he looked at Optimus. "I think you might be right."

She smiled brightly, turning around on her heel. "Hopefully Ratchet will be able to bang that dent out of your head."

He blinked, hesitantly placing a hang on his head before gasping. "Primus!"

She giggled as she walked out of the room. She saw Bumblebee, Jazz, and Bulkhead rushing toward her.

"What happened?" Jazz asked.

"Is Prowl okay?" Bumblebee questioned.

She shook her head. "Guys, guys, don't worry. He's fine. He's just…" she looked down at Optimus before continuing. "Had a little crash."

They gave each other bewildered looks before watching her walk past them into the living room. They blinked after her as she walked in a new way… her hips swaying more… as if she was happy? She seemed more cheerer for some reason as she left them, Optimus laughing in her arms.

"Does she seem more…?" Bulkhead started.

"Chirpier?" Prowl suggested as he stepped out of the room, rubbing his head where the almost painful dent was.

Bumblebee then touched his head. "Where'd ya get that from?"

Prowl slapped his hand away, mumbling. "Nowhere…"

Fernblade smiled down at Optimus in her hands, earning a large grin and a few giggles back. Did the bot actually like her? Well, while he was an adult, anyway? The thought made her happy. She strolled into the living room. She held Optimus upright against her chest, walking over to Ratchet. She watched as he was making a machine that looked like a ray. She tilted her head.

"What is that?" she asked.

He jerked in surprise and dropped the wrench on the counter. "Fernblade, don't sneak up on an old timer like that!"

She laughed. "Sorry."

He sighed and shrugged. "It's supposed to be a shape changer of some sort. I'm hoping that it'll reverse the effects from that man's ray that changed him into a sparkling."

"Do you think it'll work?"

He scratched his head for a moment's thought. He then shrugged. "Who knows? I have no clue how that human made his ray. I need to do multiple tests to find out though."

She nodded, looking back down at Optimus. He was grunting, trying to reach for the wrench on the table. He seemed very determined to get it while staying in her arms. She smiled at him, earning a questioning look from Ratchet.

"You okay about taking care of him while we look for the organic with the ray?" he asked.

Fernblade nodded, watching as the sparkling snatched one of the tools and waved it in the air. He giggled when it buzzed, looking at it with amazement, he pushed the button again, earning a _buuuuzzzzzz bzzzzzzzz. _He laughed loudly at the drill. Ratchet swiftly took the drill away from him, making the sparkling glare at him.

"Now, now, that wasn't a toy." Fernblade said soothingly, patting his head.

Optimus looked back at her with glassy optics or puppy eyes to humans. She smiled and rolled her optics, letting them settle on the older bot.

"Do you have anything that he could play with?"

He groaned, and didn't say anything for a second. Then he nodded, grabbing Sari's tablet that she had left on the ground before. He handed it to Optimus, whose optics grew as wide as the moon when it lit up and began to blink with many colors. Ratchet watched him tap colors on the toy before giving Fernblade an unsure expression.

"Are you sure that you are well with taking care of him? You don't have to."

Fernblade waited for a minute. She looked back down at the sparkling in her arms giggling and gasping at the game. She then nodded confidently, looking back at Ratchet.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it Ratchet. The main problem is not my opinion, but finding that human."


	5. Chapter 5

**You Caught my Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Hey! Thanks for the reviews, everybody. After I finish this story give me some ideas about a new story or I can just surprise ya. Thanks****. Love you all!**

**Chapter Five**

A few days had passed by since that stressing day that Optimus Prime had been turned into a sparkling. The Autobots had really struggled to find that human, but they had absolutely no luck. Captain Fanzone had his men search the entire city, and the Autobots searched along with them, well, not all of them. Fernblade still hung back at the warehouse with Optimus. She never left the base, not even when there was an emergency.

She couldn't leave him alone. She had grown attached to him, and never let him wander out of her sight, not that he went too far from her though. He was always by her side, under her feet, in her lap, or with Jazz, who in which was usually with her most of the time. She always watched when Bumblebee and Bulkhead were playing with him, and especially when he entered Prowl's room, expecting something to happen. But, she guessed that he'd taken her advice about his booster's wirings, because he never went flying whenever Optimus made his way into his room.

Ratchet had somewhat made some headwork on the machine that could change Optimus back. But she never let him test it on Optimus, fearing that it would make his situation worse. So, he was rendered to doing animal tests, as much as Prowl hated it. But Prowl knew that it was for the best if they were to make their leader normal again. So, whenever Ratchet was fixing to do a test, the bot would go into his room away from the lab. Fernblade felt pity for him, for she knew how much he loved nature and the life in it. She knew that doing Cybertronian tests on animals made him upset so she was with him some times during Ratchet's experiments. One day, she had recommended Ratchet to use old machines like a car or something.

"That might work, Fernblade. At least it'll help with tension here."

The next few hours she watched him work with an old car outside. He hoped that maybe he can reverse the aging affects and make the car new again. He tested his machine one. It glowed like Optimus did when he was changed, but then it exploded, making it clear that it wasn't going to work, and making Fernblade certain that she defiantly decide that she wasn't going to let him test it on Optimus.

"Well, I don't know what to say to this. I've tried everything I could think of to make this work."

She sighed. "Well, it seems that we have no choice but to hunt down that human."

He nodded. "Yes, but we were going to have find him anyway."

"I suppose you're right, Ratchet. I sure hope we find him soon…" she sighed, looking down at her feet. Ratchet patted her shoulder.

"We will. It'll take some time, but we will." When she nodded meekly, he coughed. "Maybe you should go inside and check on him."

Fernblade nodded, and started to walk away toward the building. She walked through the door and wondered where Optimus could've been, so she guessed that Jazz might have known, so she started to make her way to Jazz's room. When she got to his door and was about to knock, she heard a noise. She pressed her head against the door, listening. She heard a giggle, and then a chuckle. Then that chuckle turned into a fit of laughter. She smiled in relief, knowing that very well that Optimus was in there. She knocked on the door softly.

"Haha haha! C-come in!" she heard Jazz's voice yell before it was lost in laughter.

She opened the door and giggled at the scene. Optimus was on Jazz's abdomen wriggling his fingers into the bot's sides, causing Jazz to squirm and burst into another fit of giggles and laughter. She let the door close behind her, and leaned against the wall, enjoying the scene while she wasn't seen by the sparkling. This was truly a precious sight, one she hoped that she could remember for a long time.

Suddenly Optimus looked up, a large happy smile plastered on his face before he started to crawl off of Jazz to her, gurgling and making funny sounds as she picked him up. Jazz on the other hand was still lying on the floor panting, his mouth still curved into a smile. Fernblade smiled as she held the sparkling close.

"Having fun, Jazz?" she asked grinning.

He lifted his head up, letting a large sigh exhale from him. "Heh, yeah, just dying in here."

She laughed, rolling her optics as she sat down on his berth with Optimus sitting in her lap. Jazz sat up, crisscrossing his legs. He looked up at her. She then lifted a brow ridge at him.

"Hey, I didn't know that you were ticklish!"

He suddenly waved his finger at her. "And I planned to keep it that way, as well as I know ya."

She smiled almost evilly. "Didn't take long for me to find out though, huh?"

He sighed, falling backwards and lying on his back muttering, "Primus…"

She laughed. "Don't worry, you just got it from him, I won't get ya until later."

He groaned. "Something to look forward to, now that's a first."

Fernblade watched as he sat back up. He then gave her a mischievous look that made her uneasy. She remembered that look very well. She had known Jazz actually ever since they were sparklings. He always had that look when he found something that'd freak her out like a Cybertronian bug or something gross. But, that's what boys did, right? But this particular expression made her feel as though he was really planning something.

"… What?" she asked, staring at him.

He shook his head smoothly, his emotion changing dramatically from evil to innocent. "Oh, nothing, nothing."

She glared at him, a curl pulling at her mouth to form a smile. "What were you thinking, Jazz?"

He put his hands up. "Nothing!"

She stared at him for a minute, studying him. He almost made her nervous. What was he thinking? The look he had made him look actually like a Decepticon, without the red optics and the dark colors and the symbol. Then Optimus began to squirm in her arms. Knowing that he wanted down, she picked him up and sat him at her feet. He began to crawl back towards Jazz, earning a hesitant reaction from the white bot.

"Now, now, OP, ya don't want to do that!" he said.

Fernblade instantly knew the reason for his panicked reaction. Optimus being a sparkling, Jazz couldn't fight back against him whenever the sparkling wanted to play. Jazz didn't want to hurt him, so he had no choice but to _allow_ him to tickle him. Fernblade knew this struck Jazz hard. He was smiling nervously and holding the sparkling away from his as far as he could as if it was something that could hurt him.

"Aw, what's the matter, Jazz? It's just a little sparkling." Fernblade said, smirking at him as he held a giggling, squirming Optimus away from his body.

He looked at her in a knowing way. "But this is _OP _that's torturing me, not a normal little sparkling."

Fernblade nodded meekly. "I know, but he is a normal sparkling in his mind, so… he won't be able to remember everything that he has been doing over these last few days."

He grunted, flinching as Optimus's hand reached his underarm. "I hope he doesn't! I'd be 'in a fix' as the human's put it."

She smiled amusingly. Indeed if Optimus's mind was normal now, this would all be very awkward when he got turned back into his adult form. He had no way of showing them that he had his normal mind now and if he even did have a right mind to he'd already show it by now. So she knew that Jazz had nothing to worry about when Optimus because himself again.

_Prowl should be safe as well. _She added to herself, recalling the day Optimus made his boosters go off in his room. That was very funny, and actually made her day mentally. She watched as Jazz sat Optimus back down on the floor, a wary expression crossing his face. It was so cute how an adult bot could be so scared of a tiny sparkling that can't even hurt him. Then again, Optimus had been torturing him before she came in. But not in a way that it hurt. Well, at least she knew of a way to get back at him if they ever came across a bet or something like that, just tickle him until she feels he's gotten his punishment. The thought made her excited and hope that something like that would come up soon. But she put that thought aside and watched as Jazz gently pushed Optimus away, only for the baby to come right back, causing a new game to come up. Every time Optimus came closer, Jazz would push him away, and then it'd repeat over and over.

Then Optimus grabbed hold of the white bot's hand, causing Jazz to try to pry him off. The sparkling kept a vice-like grip on his wrist, now finding it funny that Jazz wanted to get him off so badly. Suddenly Fernblade saw a flicker of an expression brighten Jazz's face, and she knew that he'd come up with an idea. Jazz swiftly pulled his arms towards him, resulting with a giggling sparkling to land in his lap and in the bot's grip. Fernblade watched curiously as Optimus wriggled in his arms and grunted, looking at her as if asking for help. The femme smiled at him sweetly. He pouted back at her. Jazz winked at her, holding his index finger up, before poking and prodding his finger into the sparkling's stomach, earning a high pitched squeal. Optimus burst into a large fit of giggles and tried to push his finger away. Fernblade giggled herself as she watched Jazz play with him. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that Jazz w_as _his father, like Ratchet had said the other day about them acting like his parents.

She sighed, wondering if they ever were going to catch that human. Optimus has gone too long with being a sparkling, and she wondered that even if they did catch the human, if they still could make him normal again. What if they couldn't? Would they be stuck with having to put up with the sparkling and raise him until he was an adult again? That would take eons though. And what would the Elite Guard think? They would probably take him away, and raise him to not be a Prime. Optimus Prime wouldn't be a Prime anymore after that. Since he didn't have the memory of his own team anymore, he wouldn't think twice in joining the Elite Guard probably.

_I can't let that happen… that would mean that I'd lose him for good. _

Fernblade silently sighed to herself. They had to find him. They had to change him back if it was still possible. She had to tell him that she cared, just as he had cared about her. If they couldn't make him normal again, then her spark would forever stay like an empty half, with no other bot to fill the other half. She would not be her whole self, and not the same.

Jazz's squeal brought her back to reality, making her look down at them to see Optimus on top of Jazz again, tickling the poor bot to death again. She smiled as she watched Jazz try his best to make the sparkling stop, but at the same time trying not to hurt him at the same time. It was priceless. She recorded it in her processer for later amusement.

She lay down on the berth, resting her chin on her hands and kicking her feet behind her. Jazz had really grown on Optimus sparkling over the last days, and wondered if… he wanted kids of his own. He was a great friend, and somehow he seemed to grow closer to her since Optimus had changed. It was obviously noticeable, because even Ratchet had commented on t yesterday. He said, "It's like you're stuck like glue to her." She had rolled her optics, but it did make her feel awkward, because it was true.

But, then again, if Prowl noticed that she was always thinking about Optimus, maybe Jazz had noticed too, and was just around to keep her in high spirits until Optimus came back.

Fernblade was lost in her own world and didn't notice that jazz's laughter had stopped. He had set Optimus down, who had grown tired from tickling him. Jazz was now staring at her curiously before a devious grin spread over his face. He noticed that she was completely off guard, and came up with an idea. Slowly, he crept forward the berth. She was looking the other way, and didn't notice his hand slowly wrapping around her wrist. Suddenly he jerked and a yelp erupted from her as she plopped down onto the floor, ending up with him pinning her. She blinked, recovering her bearings and glared up at him.

"What are you doing?!" she asked, trying to struggle out of his grip.

The more she struggled the bigger his grin grew. He repositioned his grasp, gripping both f her hands above her head with one hand and keeping her legs between his knees pinned. At this moment she couldn't move.

"Jazz, what is up with you?" she grunted.

"Thought you could use some fun." He replied simply.

She raised an optic ridge at him. "What?"

He chuckled and raised his finger like he did before with Optimus. Fernblade's optics widened and she began to struggle.

"Jazz, no! No, no, no! Stop, Jazz!" she pleaded, frantically trying to squirm out of the bigger bot's grasp.

Jazz had an evil grin now, and winked at her. But he didn't plan out start tickling her; first he started running his fingers up and down her sides, just to test her sensitivity. He received some giggles and a bit of squirming. Then he tried putting a little more pressure, now making her laugh more.

"Jazz, come on, stop!" she giggled, trying desperately to keep her cool, but it didn't fool him.

"No can do, Fern. I think I might have too much fun with this." He laughed, now experimenting in different parts of her body. He tried her neck, underarms, a little behind her sides closer to her back. By the next few minutes she was laughing her aft off.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Jazz, STOP! HAHAHA! Please, no more!"

Jazz laughed with her, enjoying his fun. She was very small compared to him, so it was easy to hold her down, even when she struggled. But he had to be careful with her legs, since they were between his knees she could easily make a shot if he allowed it by loosening his knee on her and if it came to her mind. He remembered one time when Sentinel was kicked by a femme in the panels. He'd watch it happen himself, and it wasn't pretty. He was sent to the recovery center for days, and when he came back, his temper was worse than ever. He had to admit, when a femme got mad, she could really do a number on a mech if she knew the weaknesses.

He secured his knee on her legs, and continued his torture. She started to tire out, her laughing lowering to sharp gasps. He smiled, considering that maybe she'd have enough before he yelped. He looked behind him, seeing Optimus at his feel. He was scratching his feet, now in the mood for playing again. Jazz chuckled, jerking his foot away, taking his optics off of Fernblade.

Fernblade was catching her breath when she noticed that Jazz's grip on her hands had loosened. She took in a few breath and grunted as she squirmed, quickly wriggling her hands out of his grasp. He gasped and was pushed sideways, landing on his stomach. He was about to get up when Fernblade suddenly sat on his back.

"Thanks, guy!" she laughed, rubbing Optimus's head before feeling Jazz trying to move.

"Hey, get off!" he grunted.

Fernblade hummed to herself, and got into a thinking pose, placing a finger on her chin before grinning at him.

"Nah." She then started her own torture, tickling his sides and under his arms. She didn't start slow like he did; she unleashed all she could, extracting her revenge on him. To keep him from kicking his feet, and crossed her legs behind her, pinning them both to the ground. His broad shoulders helped steady her balance, making it just as good since he couldn't move well with the way she had him pinned.

"Fern, okay, okay! HAHAHAHA! I GIVE UP!" he yelled.

Fernblade noticed that his legs were kicking more as well, and she looked behind her. Optimus was scratching at his feet, squealing happily when they jerked. She giggled in amusement.

_Ya keep that up and we'll be having him contacting Primus himself._ She thought to herself. She smiled down at Jazz, who seemed to have weakened under her. Sighing, she sat up and grabbed Optimus up, sitting on the floor beside Jazz. The white bot rolled over, sprawled out on the floor still smiling.

"Phew, you're going to kill me before this day ends." He panted.

She smirked at him. "You started it."

He raised a hand, waving a finger. "Point taken…"

She giggled, cradling the sparkling as she watched Jazz sit up and lean against the berth. He looked at her with a smile.

"We even?" he asked.

She looked away for a second, dramatically making a thinking expression. "Hmm… no."

He tilted his head, but before he could say anything, she continued. "But, if you buy me something to drink later, I might consider it…"

His jaw dropped, giving her a shocked face. "What?"

She laughed, patting his shoulder. "I'm just kidding, Jazz. Jeez, you take things so seriously."

He sighed, but she couldn't tell if it was in relief or in tiredness. But she suddenly stood up and picked Optimus up, feeling that the sparkling was tired and knowing that it was time to put him to bed. Jazz gave her a knowing smile.

"I think I'm going to take a nap myself. I've wore myself out trying to make him tired."

Fernblade then raised a optic ridge at him. "Oh, so that's how it all started?"

He tittered a bit before nodding meekly. She laughed at him and nodded back. "Okay. Have a good nap."

He yawned and stood up, sitting on his berth as she walked out. Fernblade turned and started down the hall, on her way to her room. Two days ago Ratchet found that the closer Optimus was to her, the less he cried. So he moved his bed to her room so that they wouldn't have to deal with the whining at night. It didn't bother her, for she was more than happy to have him with her. He was a sweet baby, but she never forgot that he was the bot she loved when he was an adult. She felt odd whenever she thought of it that way, this sparkling being the Optimus Prime she had fallen in love with. What was she going to think when they turned him back?

She entered her room, and walked toward the cradle-like bed. She gently placed him in the bed, covering him with the blanket as he was already asleep. She smiled softly, and left the room. Suddenly after the door closed, Bumblebee's voice rang through the halls.

"Hey, they spotted the human!"

Fernblade sprinted down the hall, down the stairs and into the living room where the others, including the tired Jazz, were gathered around the radio.

"…_the unknown man with the ray has been seen near the airport around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon…" _the man was saying. Sari looked at her watch and gasped.

"That was only five minutes ago, guys! We can still catch him if we hurry!"

Ratchet nodded. "Alright, let's go."

The others nodded, rushing out the door and transforming. Fernblade was about to transform and follow when Ratchet stopped her.

"You need to stay here with Optimus."

She frowned. "What? But I can help you."

He shook his head. "Right now, I need you to stay and look after Optimus."

She was about to object, but shut her mouth and nodded. She watched him drive off, and sighed. She so badly wanted to go and help. She'd waited for too long to not go. Optimus was asleep anyway, so why worry about him? Then again, she didn't want to leave him. She sighed again and rested her chin on her hands. Maybe they'll catch him, and maybe they'll bring back that ray. They could have Optimus back by tonight! But it'll take a long time for them to get to the airport. It was at least an hour to two hour drive. She would have to suffer maybe another night. She couldn't wait for them to get back.

Ratchet's hand-made ray wasn't turning out so well, so that option was out of the question of turning him back. So she could only hope that they would find the human and return with the ray, and reverse the effects.

So, a few hours went by, and still no sign of them returning. Fernblade began to worry, and paced back and forth by her window in her room. Optimus was awake now, and was watching her curiously. She sighed heavily, spinning on her heel. She paced for a few more minutes before sitting down on her berth. What has happened to them? Had the man struck them with his ray? Were they okay? What was taking them so long?

_Please, please, please, please be okay, guys! I can't afford you all to be sparklings, and I am for sure not taking care of you all! _

She groaned and rubbed her head, trying to ease the throbbing. The tension was killing her, and she was considering going out and checking on them. But when she looked at Optimus, her mind sat on staying until they came back. She lay down on the berth, tired, but not wanting to sleep. She had to stay awake; she had to see them return home. But what if they don't? What if they were hurt and couldn't contact her?

_Surely Captain Fanzone would've came by and told me… _she thought, trying to calm herself. Captain Fanzone would come to the warehouse if something was up, or at least somebody would have. So, they were fine, they were fine and were on their way back right now…

Sighing, she sat up. She looked out the window and saw that the sky was red. It was about to be nighttime, and they would be back before she went to sleep. Hopefully…

But, those minutes turned into an hour, and now the stars were out. Sleep dawned on her, and wrapped around her like a heavy blanket. Optimus looked to be tired too, for he was hanging his head and his optics were dim. She knew that he wouldn't be able to stay awake for much longer, and neither could she. So, she chose to believe that the others would arrive later that night, and got up to put him to bed. He was still in his crib, but he didn't seem to want to lie down, as hard as she tried to tuck him in.

Then she realized why he didn't want to sleep. He raised his arms up, clenching and unclenching his hands. He wanted to sleep with her tonight. So, she sighed.

"Okay, c'mon." she said softly as she gently picked him up. "You can stay in my berth tonight."

He yawned, and clung to her tightly as she leaned over into the berth and leaned back. He snuggled beside her, yawning before closing his optics. Fernblade sighed, letting her head lay back on the berth. She then turned her body, so that she was curled up around him in prevention of rolling onto him. He instantly got comfortable and sighed heavily.

_I sure hope they come home soon… _she thought to herself. She let her optics close, and let the darkness take hold of her. Soon, the hoped, they would be home and in the morning they would turn Optimus back to normal, and finally she could tell Optimus how she felt. And hopefully, him tell her as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Chapter Six**

Bumblebee sighed as he sat down on the concrete sidewalk, his optics heavy and burning. Ratchet was sitting beside him along with Jazz, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Sari. They were all utterly exhausted, and only wanted to go home. It was around 10:00 p.m. or so, and finally, after days of searching, they had found and caught the human, whose name was Darwin. He had heard of Fernblade arriving a few weeks earlier, and wanted to try to aboard the Cybertronian ship when they arrived to pick her up. He wanted to turn all the Autobots into sparklings for a reason he never told, and he planned on never telling anyone. But the Autobots had caught him, that's all that mattered. So, now, they could go home and turn Optimus back to normal.

"Well," Captain Fanzone sighed as he watched his men shove the criminal in the back of a car. "I guess we'll take back the ray and keep it out of anyone else's hands."

Ratchet motioned with his hands. "Wait, we need it for something at the warehouse, Captain."

"Oh? And what do you plan on using it for?" he asked.

"Prime was hit by the ray a few days ago, remember?"

The human nodded, recalling the day. Then he looked up curiously. "Say, what happened to that bot anyway?"

The Autobots looked at each other, unsure of whether to explain or not. He would certainly have the whole city knowing that Optimus had been turned into a baby robot in his words. Prowl thought for a brief minute, then thinking of what to say.

"He became ill."

Fanzone raised a brow. "Ill? Ya mean robots can get sick?"

Ratchet nodded, now getting the idea. "Yes, under certain circumstances. If we are ill, it will take a few days for it to wear off, maybe even months. That ray made him sick, so we hope that using it again will reverse the affects."

The human stared at him for a moment, studying his expression. But he shrugged and waved his hand. "Alright, you can keep if for all I care, just don't go using it wildly."

The Autobots all nodded. They watched at a few police officers place the ray onto the ground, leaving shortly after making sure it wasn't on. Sari then grabbed it, and smiled at Ratchet. The medic smiled back and looked at the others.

"Alright, let's transform, and go home."

In union, all of them transformed, relieved to be on their way home. To be safe, Sari sat in Ratchet's passenger seat, ensuring that the ray didn't go off. It was a large struggle to get the ray from the man. Darwin had turned it on as soon as they arrived, threatening to shoot whoever made a move. But Prowl had his holograph on, and was able to sneak up behind him. But he was almost shot himself. Bumblebee had to dodge the rays of the gun every time the human's finger hit the trigger. Not wanting to risk getting hit with the ray, the Autobots had to wait for hours until the organic made a move, which was trying to run, as usual.

None of that mattered anymore. Now they could go home. Optimus would be back, and it would be like nothing happened, especially for Optimus since he didn't have his normal mind that this moment.

"Ah, I'm sure glad that we caught that organic. It was sure annoying me knowing that our leader is a sparkling." Jazz said quietly as he drove beside Bulkhead.

"Yeah, I'll sure be happy when we turn Optimus back. I really miss him as his normal self." Bulkhead added.

Sari smiled and patted the ray gun. "Well, we'll just get back, turn Optimus to normal, and then go to sleep. You guys sure deserve it."

"I don't care whether I deserve it or not, I just want to kick back, close my optics, and have a nice, long recharge." Jazz stated tiredly.

They all agreed to that in their processers.

When they got to the warehouse, they all transformed and stretched out the stiffness. Sari, Bumblebee, and Prowl started toward Fernblade's room, while Jazz, Ratchet, and Bulkhead were all too tired to join them.

"Night y'all." Jazz called from his door before letting is close behind him.

Ratchet sighed and went into his room as did Bulkhead. Bumblebee and Sari waved but prowl kept silent. He had one thing on his mind. He remembered the talk he had with Fernblade a few days ago, the day Optimus triggered his boosters. She had admitted that she loved him, so was she going to tell him that when he was normal again? He hoped so, so that way she wouldn't be so down about it like he was.

As they came to her door, Bumblebee was about to knock when Prowl suddenly brought his hand up.

"What?" Bumblebee asked, lowering his fist from the door.

Prowl pushed a button on the door. "I want to check something first, now shush."

Slowly and silently, the door opened. He peered inside and looked toward the crib. The sparkling wasn't there. When he looked over at Fernblade's berth, he slightly smiled. She was curled around him in a protective manner, a tiny smile on his little face. He poked his head out from the door and put a finger to his mouth, grabbing the ray from Sari before quietly stepping into the room. The original plan was to either change him if she was awake or if he was awake tonight, or change him tomorrow when everyone was awake. But surprisingly, Prowl had a new idea. He closed the door behind him, so that Bumblebee and Sari wouldn't have a clue what he was thinking about doing. Then he silently crept across the room toward the berth. He looked at the ray, and then at Optimus. He pointed the ray gun at the sparkling, and switched the reverse button. The ray was much more silent than and not as bright as the first ray that had turned him into a sparkling, so it didn't wake either of them. He knew it would take a while for it to take effect, so there was really no point in waiting for it to happen. So, he turned around, and noiselessly walked to the door, and slipped out from the door, leaving both Optimus and Fernblade in the room.

"What did you do?" Bumblebee asked when Prowl came out.

The older bot shrugged, handing him the ray gun. "I wanted to check if they were awake."

"Well? Were they?" Sari asked, almost impatiently.

Prowl shook his head. "No."

"Then why did you need the ray?" Bumblebee asked.

Prowl shrugged casually before he started walking off down the hall. "I don't know."

Bumblebee and Sari looked at each other in confusion. What did he mean by that? But they shrugged. Bumblebee waved at Sari before she flew down the hall and then on her way home, then he himself went downstairs into his own room to recharge.

In Fernblade's room, Optimus was still a sparkling. He was in her arms, happy and content. But then, his body started to glow, and grow bigger. He grew and grew, his features sharpening and bulking up. The way he grew caused Fernblade's body to move with it as he changed. His body grew brighter for a moment, and then suddenly, the light faded. Fernblade, feeling new warmth in her sleep, sighed almost in a happy way, and hugged the figure that lay near her. Felling the warmth as well, the Prime, still asleep, wrapped his arms around her. That night, Fernblade recharged well, and now the dream she had, of being in the blue and red bot's arms, felt all, too real.

Morning came calmly and quietly. The sun rose slowly over the city buildings, casting rays of sunlight through the window of Fernblade's room. Fernblade was relaxed and not awake yet in the berth, but she wasn't alone. The sparkling last night wasn't a sparkling anymore. Now he was an adult again, dreaming his own dreams, and his arm still under her head and his other around her waist. That night Optimus had dreamed an odd dream, and felt as though he was still in it. Fernblade was in her own dream as well at that moment, but hers wasn't odd.

The sunlight shining through the window caught Optimus's optics, and they blinked. At the same moment, Fernblade's optics started to open. It took a moment for both of them to recover their vision, but when they did, their optics grew larger than they thought possible. In union, they both screamed in surprise and tried to scoot away from each other, but the berth being small, they both fell off the sides.

Fernblade groaned, rubbing her head. She blinked a few times before gathering her senses and springing up into a standing position. She saw the large blue and red bot lying on the ground shaking his head. He looked back at her in confusion, then around the room, then back at her.

"How did I get here? Why am I in here? What's going on?" he asked, not really sure if he was talking to her in particular or just bursting out the questions.

She shook her head. She studied him carefully. Was this a dream? Was this one of those dreams that she never wanted to wake up from? He stood up, rubbing his own head. He looked back at her, staring at her optics. Fernblade then tilted her head.

"You don't remember?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Uh…what am I supposed to be remembering?"

She sighed, her spark humming in her chest. "You were hit with a ray, and it… well… I don't know how to say it without you freaking out…"

"Freaking out?" he questioned. "I just woke up in a berth with a femme, not even remembering what had happened and…" he then seemed to grow pale. "…we didn't… do anything last night… did we?"

Fernblade blinked at him for a minute, not sure how to answer him. Then she sighed. "Optimus, you might want to sit down."

His optics grew wide. "Oh Primus… we did do something did we?"

She rolled her optics. "No, ya lugghead, we didn't. Now sit."

Optimus sighed, not sure whether to listen or not, but he did so anyway. He sat down on the berth. She sat beside him.

"Okay, now, listen. You were hit with a ray a around five days ago. You were changed into a sparkling."

"What?! I was turned into a what?" he yelped, not believing his audios.

Fernblade nodded slightly. "Yes, I know it's… very shocking… but it's been a few days since then, and we've been trying to figure out where that organic that changed you was. We had no luck until yesterday."

Optimus then remembered the emergency call the Autobots and him had gone to, and the ray that the man have hit him with. Ever since then, it was dark. He couldn't remember anything after that.

He then frowned at her. "Okay, explain why I was in your berth now."

She sighed. "Ratchet said that I had to be the one to take care of you while you were still a sparkling. I let you sleep in my room because for some reason you cried whenever you weren't with me, so you wanted to sleep with me last night, so, there ya go."

Optimus blinked at her in shock. He wanted to sleep with her last night? He cried whenever she wasn't with him? He was a _sparkling_? That was a weird thought, but he really couldn't remember anything after that ray's blast. He looked at her, a searching, distant dimness in his optics.

"I…I didn't do anything crazy or anything… did I?"

She smiled, and shook her head. "No, you didn't."

He nodded meekly, and covered his face with his hands. She heard him sigh, and hesitated to say anything to comfort him. What could she say? He didn't know what he did as a sparkling, and this was certainly awkward for her, since he woke up in her berth as an adult with his arms wrapped around her. She didn't even notice that anything had changed last night. She questioned herself for doing it, but she gently placed a hand on his back.

"Hey… are you okay?" she asked, not sure what else she could say.

He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know what to think…"

She to her hand off of his back, looking away and not wanting to bother him. She was about to get up and leave him alone. Maybe the others were awake and then she could tell them that he was back. But before she took a step away from the berth, she felt a hand grab hers. She looked at the Prime, seeing that he actually had a small smile.

"So, you were the one who took care of me when I was… a sparkling?"

Fernblade nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Well, Jazz helped with it, and Ratchet. But I was the one you were with most."

He nodded, looking down at the floor briefly before looking back up at her. He stood up, surprising her for a moment. She had almost forgotten how tall he was. But she looked up at him and smiled,

"Do you want to go see if the others are up?"

He nodded. "Sure."

They walked out the door and down the hall. They didn't hear any voices from downstairs, and as they past Jazz's room, Fernblade stopped and pressed her head against the door. She smiled knowingly when she heard a loud snore from inside. She looked back at Optimus.

"They were out late last night looking for that human. They all must be exhausted."

He chuckled. "It sounds like it."

She smiled and continued down the hall. She turned the corner, not surprised to find no one in the living room. She guessed that someone must've turned Optimus back to normal while they were asleep. That was obvious. But she wanted to find out whom.

She then turned toward the door. She stepped outside, letting the sun's rays wash over her. She hadn't been outside often while Optimus was a sparkling, and hadn't transformed since the day she chose to take care of him, which was days ago. She wondered if she could even transform anymore. Suddenly a large hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

Fernblade smiled at Optimus. "Yes, it is."

They were silent for a minute, gazing at the sun shining on the dew covered grass and trees, but also they didn't know what to talk about, making the moment almost awkward. Optimus cleared his throat suddenly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, you want to… uh… take a drive with me?"

Fernblade blinked at him for a second, and then she smiled. "Why not?"

His nervous smile warmed up, and gained some more confident lines. He shrugged, motioning with his hand.

"Well, I guess whenever you're ready…?"

Fernblade then transformed, her engine turning on. He transformed after, leading the way toward the road. She kept a steady pace and stayed onto his right side. The road wasn't as crowded as usual. Only a few cars passed by them, either on their way to work on a day shift, or on their way home from a night shift. To keep from drifting off and having a wreck like she almost did last time, Fernblade concentrated on making sure Optimus was at her side. Today, he seemed to be in his own world, swaying back and forth. In a way, she couldn't tell if it was because he wasn't paying attention or it he was tired.

She then bumped his passenger side door with her handle bars. "Hey, you okay?"

"What?"

"Are you alright? You seem out of it."

"Ah," he sighed, straightening his path on the road. "I'm fine, Fernblade. I'm just kind of… lost."

Fernblade picked up her pace, driving up in front of him. Once she was up in front, she swiftly spun around, so that she was driving backwards.

"What's got you lost?"

He stuttered for a second. "Well, uh… um…"

"Well, spit it out, bot."

He sighed. "I just hope I didn't cause any trouble for anyone when I was a sparkling."

She smiled inwardly, remembering the incident with Prowl and his boosters, and yesterday with Jazz.

"Optimus, you were a very, very amusing sparkling. If anything, you were sweet." She said. It wasn't a lie, she just didn't want to tell him about those funny moments.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes."

He fell silent for a second, lost in thought for a while. Then he watched as she was swaying back and forth on the road backwards.

"Can you stop that?"

She fell still for a moment, still in reverse. "Stop what?"

"That swaying backwards. It's making me nervous."

She suddenly got an idea. Smiling evilly, she swayed hard to the left. "What are ya going to do? Are you going to save me if I wreck?"

He frowned. "C'mon, it's freaking me out."

"Aw," she said innocently, "are you scared that I'm going to crash?"

"Yes, I'm scared that you are going to crash! Now stop that."

She giggled, and teasingly started to lean over to the right. "Uh, oh! I'm going to fall! Save me!"

He groaned. "Fernblade…" he warned.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." She laughed as she sped up in reverse, spun back around, and fell back to his side.

"Thank you." He sighed.

She tapped his passenger side. "Why are you so worried about me anyway?" she asked, mentally knowing the answer. Prowl had already convinced her that Optimus had something for her, but she wanted to hear it from the Prime herself. That suddenly hit her. Prowl was the only one who knew that she loved Optimus, so… he must have been the one that changed him in her berth that night! She set a goal for her to get back at him somehow, but she would think about that later. She then waited for Optimus's reply.

"Uh, well… you see I uh… heh, ah…" he fumbled with words. She had her answer already.

"I'm sorry, I do not see." She urged, mentally laughing her head off.

He cleared his throat. "Oh, yes, of course… um…" he began to mumble to himself before sighing.

"Optimus, don't worry about it."

"What?"

She smiled inwardly. "You don't have to explain. I understand."

"Uh, you do?" he asked, his processer scrambling.

She made a laugh-like sound, but it was very soft and not so much as a giggle. "Yes, I was kidding around. I know what you mean."

He tried to sort it out in his processer. Did she actually _know _that he liked her? If she did, how did she find out? He wondered what she meant that, she understood.

"_Fernblade, where are you?" _Jazz's voice came through com-link.

"Yes?"

"_Where are you and OP? Ratchet's going to blow a fuse if you don't get back here."_

Fernblade laughed. "Okay, tell him that we're on our way back."

"Who is that?" Optimus asked.

Fernblade smiled. "It's Jazz. We need to get back to the warehouse before he goes nuts, if he hasn't already."

Optimus then laughed. "Alright."

So they turned around and started to make their way back to the warehouse. They had been driving for around fifteen minutes, so it wouldn't take long to get back if they sped up their pace. They came up to the building a few minutes later, transforming in the parking lot. Fernblade walked alongside Optimus, happy that they had gone for that short, but conversational drive. Suddenly something came to her mind that she reminded herself to do. She told Optimus to go on inside, because she need to make a call. He nodded, and went on in.

Fernblade smiled confidently, turning her com-link back on. "Oh, and Jazz?"

"_Yeah?"_

"Tell Prowl that I need to talk to him later, alone. I have something kind of important that I'd like to discus with him about."

There was a short silence on the line, but Jazz's voice came back. _"Uh, alright, I'll tell him. Do you want me to tell him the topic or something?"_

"No, No. Just tell him that I want to see him alone later." She paused for a moment, then added, "He'll know what it's about when you tell him."

"_Alright, Fern. I'll tell him."_

"Thank you, Jazz."

"_No prob."_

When she turned off her com-link, she began to walk toward the warehouse, a knowing smile on her face. Her mind was deep in thought. She was planning on what she was going to say to the Ninjabot when they met up later. And boy, was he going to get it.


	7. Chapter 7

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Chapter Seven**

Optimus listened to Bumblebee as he boasted about him distracting Darwin for Prowl. The rest of the Autobots were explaining what had happened to Optimus and how they had to retrieve the ray. They said that it had been around five or six days before they had found out where he was. Optimus was surprised that they had done it without him, not that he thought that they couldn't do it, but they had always followed his orders, and he wondered how they even cooperated. But, knowing his team, they probably had trouble with the situation.

"Admit it, Prowl! If I hadn't shot that electric bolt at him, you wouldn't have gotten that chance to turn your holograph on and trick him!" Bumblebee stated.

Prowl gave him an annoyed frown. "Bumblebee, I had my holograph on _before _we even got there!"

Bumblebee then blinked at him, obviously confused. He stared at Prowl for a long minute before tilting his head.

"You did?"

The older bot rolled his optics. "Yes, Bumblebee, that was the whole plan in the first place. If anything, that shot could've cost us the ray, and one of us could've ended up like Optimus."

"Well, EXCUSE ME!" Bumblebee glared at him. "I wouldn't have taken that shot if SOMEONE would have told me the plan!"

"I _did _tell you the plan, you glitch head! But, you would've heard me if you weren't so enthused about taking him on by yourself."

Bumblebee then fell silent, remembering what had happened. He remembered speeding off while Prowl was talking to Ratchet, Bulkhead, Sari, and Jazz. He had wanted to get ahead so that maybe he could see the human first. Then when the others had started the plan he had instinctively shot at the human's feet when he tried to shoot the ray at them. But, he had almost got hit with it himself.

Bumblebee rubbed his head. "Heh… well, I guess you're right…"

Optimus then cleared his throat. "Well, the important thing is that you all got the ray back, and that I'm back to normal." The others nodded, but Prowl and Bumblebee still gave each other silent glares. Optimus then frowned at them. "Right, Prowl and Bumblebee?"

They snapped their heads back to him and nodded. "Yes, sir." They said in union.

Optimus nodded, not satisfied that they were still upset with each other. He then looked at Ratchet. "But you still have that ray?" When the medic nodded, he continued. "Then you might want to put it somewhere where no one can get it. I'd hate to go through that again, and I'd really hate it if someone else went through it."

"Of course, Optimus. I'll put in in storage in the basement."

Optimus nodded.

"So… we're going to _keep_ it?" Bulkhead asked in a confused tone.

Ratchet picked up the ray, which was on the table. "Well, we're certainly not going to let the humans have it. Who knows what could happen with them having it."

Bulkhead then nodded in understanding. The room fell silent for a minute before the sound of heels tapping the floor echoed through the room. They turned to the hallway and saw Fernblade entering the room, just having left her room. She smiled at them.

"So, everything explained and whatnot?" she asked.

Optimus nodded. "Yes, everything has been talked through. We are going to keep the ray in our basement."

She huffed, sitting on the arm of the sofa on the side Optimus was sitting, crossing her legs almost elegantly.

"Oh, goody, that way I can use it for later." She said, grinning at Optimus in a playful manner.

He smiled back at her, lowering an optics ridge. "You better not."

She laughed, crossing her arms and sitting up straighter. "Don't worry; I'll use it only once."

He rolled his optics at her knowingly. Femmes could be such teases at times. He'd hear bots on Cybertron talking about them when he was in the Elite Guard a long time ago, way before he had met his team. He'd never been real close to any femmes, except Elita One, who was now Blackarachnia. He didn't see her anymore since she had disappeared a while back. But also she was evil, now obsessed about trying to turn herself back to normal. She didn't care who she hurt when she needed to use an experiment. She had been turned into half organic spider a long time ago. He'd blame himself for it for a while, but recovered from it.

But out of all femmes that he'd met in his life, none had caught his attention quite like Fernblade. She acted like she was toying with him, which was very noticeable to him. But, he really didn't mind it at all. It was sort of fun mentally, when she kidded around. She came up with cocky comebacks whenever someone made a comment to her. She had an attitude that she could use to her advantage in certain situations, like on that drive they took earlier. She had acted so innocent that he couldn't be mad at her for making him nervous about crashing.

He looked back at her, noticing that she was leaning against the back of the sofa, still on the arm. She smiled at him, and switched her crossed her legs around so that her left was over her right. Suddenly Sari popped up between them.

"Hey, we should celebrate!"

Fernblade blinked at her. "Celebrate what?"

Sari waved her arms. "Optimus is normal again, we should celebrate this! We might have never found that guy, especially if he got on a plane to somewhere far away from here."

The femme shrugged. "That is true… we could have lost him for good. That would have left me with raising Optimus and with Ratchet still testing on old cars."

Prowl huffed quietly. Fernblade gave him a warning smile. "Hey, if it wasn't for me, he'd still been testing on animals."

He groaned at her, rolling his optics behind his shades. "I know, I know."

"So, what should you say?"

He lifted a ridge at her. "What?"

She stared at him with a knowing expression. He stared back at her in confusion for a moment before frowning at her.

"You've got to be kidding…"

She shook her head. "Nope."

Sari giggled at him. Bumblebee smirked as Prowl glared at Fernblade. "Oh, Come on, Prowl! It can't be that hard just to say, thanks."

Jazz, who was sitting beside Prowl, elbowed him in the side. "Yeah, ya got to give her some credit!"

He sighed, pressing his fingers against his forehead. He peeked from behind his hand, mumbling. He hated it when Bumblebee and Jazz butted into conversations like that. It only made things worse for him. Prowl didn't have a problem with thanking her, it was the fact of admitting that she was right in the same way. He didn't have to say that exactly to mean that she was, she already knew that he knew that. So, why bother? But he knew she'd never let it go and would dog him about it until he did thank her. So, he took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.

"Thank you…" he said quietly.

She put her hand up to her audio. "Sorry, I didn't hear you?"

He growled. "Thank you… for making Ratchet change test subjects…"

She smiled, satisfied as she leaned back with her arms crossed. She gave him a smirk. "That's better. Now, was that so hard?"

Bumblebee, Jazz, and Sari laughed at the embarrassed Ninjabot before he got up and silently left the room and down the hall. She smiled after him as he left. Optimus cleared his throat, smiling at her. Fernblade smiled back, knowing what he was thinking. Prowl knew that she was right for talking to Ratchet. He just didn't want to admit it. He was afraid of losing his 'pride'.

_Pride my aft. _She thought, uncrossing her legs. She looked at the others before standing up. This was her chance to have that 'talk' she'd planned for Prowl. She saw that Optimus was looking at her questioningly. In reply, she blinked her optics at him rapidly, like a human woman batting her eyelashes. Then she spun on her heel and left him staring at her in wonder as she left the room and strolled down the hall. Once out of the room, he rested his elbow on the arm and gave the others a confused expression.

"Am I missing something?"

Jazz suddenly shook his head. "It's a personal thing, OP. It has nothing to do with ya."

Fernblade confidently knocked on the door to prowl's room. It was silent for a moment. So, she pushed the button and entered the room anyway. She didn't see him on the floor where he usually was when he was upset, so she guessed that he was elsewhere. She walked forward toward the tree. She looked up at the branches.

"Okay, come on. I know Jazz gave you the message." She said.

She didn't see him up in the branches, or any movement. She peered into the branches, but suddenly had an odd feeling. Realization came to her mind and she sighed. She turned around and looked the bot right in the optics. She knew that he had landed behind her, silent as a mouse if not quieter. As she turned around, he crossed his arms, gazing down at her with a stern expression.

"Alright, what do you want?"

She crossed her own arms, mimicking his pose. "I think you know what I want."

He glared at her, turning around and walking away. She jumped in front of him before he got too far. He glared at her as if she was sticking knives into his aft, which mentally he was thinking that she was doing so. He watched as her optics searched his face before she spoke.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

He shrugged. "I have no clue what you are talking about."

"Oh yes you do, Prowl. And I know that you are hiding it from me."

"If you are looking for a 'thank you', I think that you already got one."

She took a step closer, making him lean back a bit. "I'm not asking for a 'thank you', I'm demanding an explanation."

Prowl gazed down at her with fiery optics. Yes, he did indeed know what she wanted, but he was not going through that. He'd done 'it' for her own good, and Optimus's. He knew that she would wake up with Optimus as an adult, it was his plan. He knew for sure that the others including himself would be recharging late the next morning. So that'd give her time to explain to Optimus about what had happened to him, and also giving them some time to talk. He was tried to step around her, but she slid a foot in front of his leg, stopping him.

"What's the matter? Telling the truth too painful for you?" she asked, taking another step closer. He gasped when she almost pressed herself against him, causing him to step back; she kept stepping closer, forcing him to back up.

"Is that why you asked me those questions the other day? So that you could find out if I was interested in Optimus, and change him back in my berth? What would have you done if he wasn't sleeping with me last night? Take him out of his crib and put him with me and then changed him?"

He swallowed nervously, still taking careful steps backwards. Would've he done that? He couldn't focus. She had a flame in her optics that seemed to burn right into him, and suddenly he backed up against the wall behind him. He looked over his shoulder at it briefly before returning his hesitant gaze back to the enraged femme. She was bowed up, making her look taller. In his mind he was trying to figure out what to even say, but it felt as if her gaze held him in a paralyzed state.

Prowl had met some intimidating beings in his life, and some that had made him reconsider joining the battle. But, never in his life, had he ever met a femme that could back him against a wall and hold him in such an intimidating way. Most femmes considered him to be one not to mess with, but apparently this one didn't quite think like that.

He sighed, trying to hide his trembling hands by crossing his arms. He straightened his face, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't hold it for long.

"Well, I'm waiting." She said, tapping her foot.

He frantically tried to think of an answer for her, but with her glaring at him like that, he couldn't. He wouldn't say it aloud, but he thought that she was actually kind of scary.

"Well… I didn't mean for anything to go wrong… Did anything go wrong?" he asked.

"That depends on how you look at it, Ninja. Some would look at it as cruel, like a joke. It's not every night I go to bed with a sparkling and wake up with a mech."

He stared at her for a minute, not sure how to answer her. He fumbled with his processer. One part wanted to tell her to frag off and get out of his room, but the other part knew better and wanted to explain. But… how could he? He was deep enough in trouble to say much more now. So, giving up on the explanation, he sighed. His optics softened and he let his hands hang at his sides.

"Fernblade, I know I… enraged you. I know now that maybe it was wrong to act before I asked for your permission. I know you weren't looking for an apology… but… I am sorry for intruding."

Fernblade's optics lost the fire, but still glowed like coals. She didn't look so tense anymore either, making Prowl feel less timid toward her. He silently waited for her reply, mentally cursing himself for even speaking. He swallowed when she took a deep breath.

"Prowl, what you did surprised me, even scared me in a way." When she said 'scared', he then felt guilty. She then continued. "It was a random thing for you to do, especially for someone who thinks before he acts, uses strategy and your mind over power and strength."

Prowl knew that she was right. The choice he made of turning Optimus back in the way he did was random, and not normal for him to do.

He sighed. "I know… and you're right. It wasn't normal for even my mind. And I regret that I did it in that way, and-,"

Suddenly she had wrapped her arms around his neck, causing him to gasp and cringe, thinking that she was about to cut him with her blade or something else that was painful. But, then he relaxed when he realized that she was hugging him.

"I don't regret it." She said, tightening her grip.

Prowl wasn't quite sure how to react. First she had been a ball of flames fixing to beat him to a pulp, and then she suddenly changed completely. The sudden emotion change caught him off guard, but he slowly and hesitantly lifted his hand and patted her back.

"Um… that's… good, I think?"

She nodded in his shoulder. "Yes, it is." Then she released him from her hug and gave him a friendly smile. He smiled oddly back.

"So, you're not mad at me?" he asked, bewildered.

She rolled her shoulders. "Not anymore."

"So you were mad at me?"

She nodded. "Yep."

"And now you're okay with what I had done?"

She nodded again. "Yep."

He stared at her for a long while, not really certain if he was in the clear or not. She seemed to have changed completely into a different person. But he nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, alright. So… what now?"

She rested her hands on her hips. She gave him a playful smile.

"Well. I don't know about you, but I'm going to go back in the living room and see what's going on. You can stay here and 'hang out' if you want." She pointed to the tree to their left. He studied the tree in wonder for a moment, pondering over what she meant. Then he suddenly blinked and turned to say something, but he saw her just walk out of the room, the door closing behind her.

When Fernblade came back to the living room, she saw the group still sitting together around the sofa, laughing about a joke that Jazz had told a second ago. She smiled as she watched all their faces light up, and happiness surround the group. Then a sad thought entered her processer. Soon, she would have to go back to Cybertron, and leave this band of heroes on Earth. The thought made her spark hurt, and a feeling of dread hit her. She would have to go back, and work with the staff in the Cybertronian storage areas. It would be a quiet and boring life, not having any friends there. Here, she could laugh at a joke without having receiving a glare from her boss. Sentinel having to be her boss made her work even more difficult, since he was very picky about how things would work and how fast he got his information.

A quiet sob tried to escape her as she stood there in the shadows of the hallway. Fernblade didn't want to leave them. She felt more at home here than she did on Cybertron. She felt welcomed here while she felt like she was invisible to everyone except Sentinel, which wasn't as much as a question of whether she had his information or not. And Optimus, she had grown attached to him and her chest burned as hot as fire at the thought of leaving him.

"Fern?"

The femme looked up, seeing Optimus looking over the sofa at her with a welcoming smile. He waved a hand toward her.

"You want to join us? You don't really blend in with the dark over there." He said.

Fernblade blinked at him. Last time he had called her 'Fern' had almost insulted her, but this time, it made her relieved. She nodded, walking over to the group. She sat down beside him on the sofa, and was glad that she had been invited, because in the next hour, they did nothing but tell jokes, funny stories, and had good laughs. Prowl had joined them a few minutes after she had, and actually had a few good stories of his own. It was the best time that she'd ever had in a long time.

_No wonder Jazz had decided to live here. _She had thought to herself. The Elite Guard had been very hard and not fun. She had never been part of it, but she was around Sentinel enough to see the other members of that rank. It was nothing but giving orders, silence, and very hard work. In this world, they worked, and then had fun later, which was something that rarely happened back on Cybertron.

"Okay, okay, I got a good story that y'all will love." Sari said as she sat on Bumblebee's knee.

"Sure, let's hear it." Bulkhead declared.

The other nodded, and got comfortable. Sari sat up straighter and began her tale.

"Ok, this happened a while back, like… two years ago. I was showing Bumblebee how to ice-skate for the first time."

"Ah, not that one!" Bumblebee protested, covering his face with his hands.

The techno-organic giggled and ignored his plea and continued. "It was deep in the winter, with five inches of snow. We went to the lake at the park, because I wanted to go skating. Then I thought that maybe Bumblebee might want to try it, so we tried it out…-"

While everyone was so intrigued in Sari's story, Fernblade suddenly began to feel drowsy. Leaning back was too straight for her back, and she wanted to lean. But with Optimus beside her, she didn't want to embarrass herself. But she began to sway, sleep trying to grasp her in its dark hold. She rubbed her optics to stay awake.

"You tired?"

She snapped her head up, sighing when she saw that it was Optimus speaking. She nodded meekly, and yawned before she could stop herself. He smiled softly, stretching an arm and placing it on her shoulder.

"Go ahead, its fine with me."

She studied him for a moment, then realizing what he meant, she tilted her head.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, a friendly, calm expression brightening his optics and a smile curving his features. She might have thought she was crazy, but the smile he gave her made him look even more handsome. She'd seen many mechs in her life, some okay, some good looking, but she never saw one that caught her attention. When she had first seen Optimus, she really didn't think about him being very attractive as for her first thought. But, as she had been getting to know him, even in this such short amount of time, she had found a lot about him that made him special in his own way. He was kind, and caring, protective, a deep thinker and careful bot who took his time with problems. He was patient and calm and made sure no harm came to his team.

Optimus was an interesting book, like she usually thought others as. He was a great novel that never seemed to end, and got better on through the pages. Every time she turned the page, she found something new about him.

When he had nodded, she hesitantly leaned against his shoulder. But he lifted his arm so that she slid down and had her head on his chest, his arm then wrapping around her shoulder. A strange warmth covered her like a comforter, making her body relax, and a sleep close in on her, now not as eager to take her, and willing to gently bring her into the peaceful recharge. She felt Optimus's hand start to rub her shoulder, causing her to feel more relaxed. She had forgotten about everyone else around her, laughing and talking about their happy times. Optimus was quiet though, his chest gently rising up and down in a calming movement for her as she leaned her head against him. She felt safe near him, and her spark was at ease. At that moment, she didn't want to go to sleep, but then Optimus's soothing voice filled her audio.

"Go to sleep, Fern. I'm here."

Then at that moment, she sighed. The others' voices and laughter started to fade, along with the light. Darkness began to wash over her, and then she was breathing quietly as she had fallen asleep. But even in her soothing darkness, that voice still echoed in her processer.

_I'm here. I'm here. I'm here…_


	8. Chapter 8

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Chapter Eight**

Optimus closed the door to Fernblade's room as quietly as he could. He had just put the femme in her berth and was about to creep to his own room. She had fallen asleep on the couch with him while they were talking listening to the group talk about the good times in the past. He might've sounded sure when he allowed her to lean on him, but mentally he was panicking. He was afraid that she might have taken it offending, thinking that he might've been making a move onto her. He knew that some femmes took some things the wrong way, but she had not, and that made him feel more confident about the way he talked to her. That's why he had responded the ray he did when she joked at him about using that ray to change him back into a sparkling. He felt more confident in replying along with the joke.

After the door was closed he sighed, turned away, and started to make his way down the hallway and to his room downstairs. He listened to his footsteps quietly echo off the walls. Now that it was night, it seemed to be too quiet in the warehouse. He wondered if he was the only bot awake in the building thinking this. When he came to his room, he pushed the button and the door opened with a _shish_. He entered and then stopped, letting the door close behind him. He looked around the room, his mind suddenly thinking.

He hadn't recharged in this room ever since he was changed into a sparkling a few days ago. Now it seemed… odd. He then remembered that Fernblade had told him that he'd been recharging in her room for these past days. While he was a sparkling, the only thing he could see mentally was darkness. He must've had another part of his mind on as a sparkling, one that controlled his body while his mature part was off.

He was then kind of embarrassed. Fernblade had said that as a sparkling, he never wanted to be without her, and was in her arms most of the time. And the thought of sleeping in her berth really made his face feel hot. The moment he woke up in the berth with her had really surprised him, for he remembered nothing of going to sleep with her. He'd never slept with a femme before, and it scared him to death when he thought of what could've happened that night… The first thought that came to him when he had gotten his senses was that they might have interfaced that night. That thought caused his head to spin, but when he had heard that they hadn't, he felt like his spark's fire had been extinguished.

.But he felt odd that he was back to his room. It felt like he wasn't supposed to be in here. But as weird as it felt, nothing at that moment could keep sleep from jumping him. He sighed, and stumbled to his berth sleepily. When he got to it, he slumped down on it, letting his arm dangle at the side. Feeling uncomfortable after a few seconds, he turned over onto his back and got settled where he wouldn't be sore later. He relaxed his body and waited for the darkness to take over. He waited. And waited. And waited. He then opened his optics and sat up. Suddenly he couldn't sleep.

He sat there, waiting and waiting for that tiredness to come back. But… it never did. He was wide awake. He for sure didn't want to stay up all night, but what could he do? He couldn't just whack himself with something to knock him out… could he? He rolled his optics at himself. That was the stupidest idea that he had ever had in his processer. So, he rolled onto his side. He was surprised how fast that feeling that he was about to go offline had turned into active and wide awake. What had caught his mind from recharge so immediately? He didn't even know himself. Was something bothering him? Did he need something? Was he hurting? Was something wrong?

While he was sitting there pondering over why he couldn't sleep, he hear something. He tuned up his audio, now picking up some faint footsteps outside. He wondered who could be up at this time. He checked his processer, seeing that it was 10:00 p.m. He furrowed an optic ridge, trying to figure out who the footsteps could've belonged to. They were quiet, and not heavy. They weren't very silent, but were not very noticeable to a recharging bot. But, he wasn't a recharging bot right now…

He slowly sat up, still listening to the footsteps. As they faded, he swung his legs over the berth. He then stood up and walked to the door. He pushed the button for it to open. When the door slid up, he cringed as the sharp screeching sound erupted.

_I really need to grease this door later… _With that noted to himself, he checked down the hall in case someone had heard the door and came out to investigate. He didn't see anyone down the dark, silent halls, so he carefully stepped out of his room. The door closed a bit quieter to his relief, and he started down the hall toward the living room. Maybe it was Bumblebee. He might have not been able to sleep, and got up to play video games. Or maybe it was Ratchet getting up to get some oil or something. No, the sounds were too light for Ratchet. And they were too even for Bumblebee. Bulkhead was… too heavy to make that calm, tapping sound. Prowl's were way lighter, almost silent. Sometimes Prowl would scare the life out of Optimus when he'd walk up to him from behind. So, he could rule those out. Then one last person was left.

But Optimus had put her to bed just a few minutes ago. She was dead in recharge, so how could she be up right now? He considered going upstairs to see if she was indeed not in her room. But he chose to investigate who he heard before actually going into her room, in case she was in there awake and didn't want anyone barging in.

He crept around the corner, actually hoping in a way that she'd be in there. But… she wasn't. He blinked, wondering if he had even heard the footsteps. Did he? Was he imagining things? But he shook his head. He did hear something. He may not be tired, but he was not imagining things. He walked through the living room, checking the sofa to see if anyone was laying on it. There was not one there, so he turned toward the door. Whoever it was that was awake wasn't inside, so they must've been outside. Optimus wandered to the door and outside.

He didn't see anything but the parking lot, an old car that was burnt along with some of its parts scattered all over the place, which he guessed that that was one of the test subjects for Ratchet's ray, and shadows casted by the moon's glow. He sighed, rubbing his head. Maybe he _had_ imagined the footsteps. But as he lowered his gaze to the ground, he suddenly knew that he hadn't imagined it. He raised his optics up to the roof. He saw the green figure sitting alone on the edge of the roof, letting her legs dangle.

One moment he was standing on the ground, the next he was climbing the large ladder up the side of the building. When he got to the top, he pulled himself onto the flat surface. He breathed a sigh when he sat on the edge for a moment. He hadn't worked his joints like that in a while. He lifted his gaze to the femme sitting on the opposite side of the roof, and stood up.

"Fern?" he said.

She jerked, almost losing her balance on the edge before grasping a bar that was behind her. He gasped silently and jogged to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

She huffed as he pulled her to her feet, dusting herself off. "I'm fine, thanks. Jeez, do you always creep up on people like that?" He was about to apologize again, but when he saw that she was grinning, he smiled.

"What are you doing up here? I thought you were asleep."

She shrugged casually. "I guess I woke up after you put me in my room."

He watched as she sat back down on the edge. He sat beside her, resting an arm on his knee and letting his other leg hand off. She leaned her chin on her arms on her knees. Optimus sighed and twitched his fingers, letting his mind wonder before Fernblade's voice broke in.

"So, what are you doing up here?"

He shrugged, giving her a small smile. "Couldn't recharge."

She nodded knowingly, sighing deeply before looking up. Optimus wondered what she was thinking and looked up too. He saw millions of stars that seemed to be all different sizes. Some had some blue tones, and some red, and some white. Some were bright and twinkled like brand new human jewelry. He then looked at Fernblade again. Speaking of the stars twinkling, her optics were sparkling as she looked up at the sky. She looked so fascinated by the shining lights in the sky that her optics glowed in the dark. He stared at her in amazement, captivated by her green armor shining in the moonlight, and her features standing out in the dim light. Right at that moment, nothing could take his optics off of him.

"Wow… you can see more stars here than on Cybertron…" she said, keeping her optics on the sky.

Optimus wasn't paying attention for a moment, and suddenly blinked. "Huh…What?"

She turned her head, and giggled. "The stars. You can see more here than on Cybertron."

He quickly nodded, catching up on the sentence. "Oh, uh, yes. You can see quite a few here." He felt his face grow hot. He then looked up, trying to keep her from seeing the embarrassment in his optics.

She tilted her head, studying him. Something was up, she could tell. But she turned her head away.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "There are a few, huh?" she said, not really knowing what to say. Then she sighed, slumping her shoulders and resting her chin on her arms.

"I wonder how it feels like to fly…"

Optimus looked at her questioningly. "Fly?"

She nodded. "Yeah, the Jet Twins are the only bots I know who can fly. It makes me wonder what it's like to just… fly away from your troubles."

He stared at her for a moment. Fly away from your troubles? What exactly did she mean by that? He watched her in wonder for the longest of moments, and then he thought of something.

"So," he said, "if you could, right now, would you fly anywhere you wanted?" When she looked at him with a curious expression, and nodded ever so slightly, he smiled. "Wait here."

He then stood up, turning away and walking off. Fernblade looked over her shoulder and watched as he disappeared down the ladder. She turned around to look at the sky. She wondered why he had asked the question, and she also asked herself why she had even mentioned flying. She could never fly anyway. She had no wings, nor any boosters to even get her up off the ground. She sighed to herself, hating herself for making him leave. A few minutes went by, and she was fixing to get up and go inside. But suddenly she heard the sound of jet boosters. At first she thought it was Prowl, but these sounds were louder, and sounded like they had more power.

She almost screamed, and fell backwards onto her back when suddenly something huge appeared in front of her, hovering in air. A large sigh of relief washed out of her when she realized that it was Optimus, but then she had a balloon of questions ready to pop. How was he flying? Did he always have those rocket boosters? What was he doing?

Optimus rested his hands on his waist, smiling. "Miss me?"

"O-Optimus?!" she gasped, sitting back up.

He laughed. "Surprised? I got these a while back."

She could only stare in amazement and in confusion as the wingless, flightless bot was hovering in the air in front of her. She slowly began to stand up on wobbly legs. Optimus barely moved forward, holding a hand out.

"I've never 'flown away from my troubles', as you can say before," he said, "but I think I can let you see what it's like to fly."

Fernblade gazed at his hand, almost afraid. Something in her told her to not take it, to run away and lock her door in her room, but… another part of her gently told her to take it, and that everything would be alright. She took a step forward, hesitantly reaching her hand to his until her fingertips almost touched his. When they did, he moved his hand a bit closer, and she slid her hand into his, letting him grasp it ever so gently. She was surprised by how careful he was with her hand. It was almost as if he was letting her know his hand before he could move. Slowly and not so sure in herself, she grabbed his large hand in her small one. His hand was warm, and to Cybertronian to Cybertronian, it was soft. It felt very much like when a human grabbed another's hand.

He surprised her by pulling her off the building, and into his chest. She yelped, wrapping her arms around his neck quickly, almost in fear when her feet had left solid ground. Her heart was thrumming in her chest as she clung to his neck like her life depended on it. She heard him chuckle from his chest, and his arms around her tightened gently. She felt one hand press against her side and the other on her back.

When she looked up at his face, he smiled warmly at her. "Its okay, Fern. I'm here, and I got you."

Her spark unexpectedly calmed, and her grip loosened around his neck. Feeling a bit safer, she let him wrap his arm completely around her back. It felt… nice. She didn't have to worry anymore. She was surprised of herself mentally, but what she was feeling was the best feeling that she'd ever felt in her life.

Optimus nodded slowly, and looked up. He gave his boosters a little more power, sending them on a cruise. They flew from the warehouse where the others recharged, and forgot that there was anyone else in the universe even online, or alive.

He had to keep a firm grip on her, but she was entranced in the sight she was seeing. Below them was the park now, glowing with fireflies and the lake shining in the moon's soft glowing rays. She could see their reflections as they drew closer to the water. Both of their bright blue optics shined in the water, brighter than the moon behind them. She looked at his optics as he looked at hers, happiness glowing from each.

Suddenly she started to giggle. Optimus lifted an optic ridge and looked into the water. He saw a yellow blinking on his face, on his nose. He blinked at it, thinking that he was imagining it. But when it blinked again, he smiled. Fernblade lifted a hand and let the firefly crawl onto her finger, watching it as it took off from her hand and flew away to join the others in their lightening, glowing, and graceful dance. Optimus smiled after it, and then angled his body upward, lifting them up higher. She trailed her hand in the water, and placed her arm back around his shoulder as they left the water's level.

They glided over the trees edging the park, their sparks humming. Optimus turned his body to the left, guiding them over the large oaks, pines, and maples. The trees swayed as they passed, their branches waving them goodbye. They rose higher, now coming to the city. The lights shone as they flew over, gazing down at the somewhat busy roads and buildings. They could also see Sumdac tower, with all of its lights off, giving it an eerie looks.

But they left the city, and flew over the waters near the docs. They watched again at their reflections as they moved with the waves. Fernblade gazed so calmly down, but didn't notice that her grip had loosened. Suddenly there was a wind change, causing Optimus's wings to tilt abruptly. She then lost her grip, and fell. But Optimus dived down, and before she could hit the water, turned onto his back in air and she landed on his chest. They froze, their optics shined as they stared at each other, and then they burst into laughter.

Optimus then gasped. He felt the cold water below them splash onto his back, and he gave his boosters more power, so they shot up and away from the water in a spiraling movement, both not taking their gazes away from each other. They stared into each other's optics, wondering what the other was thinking about. Fernblade adjusted her grasp, and let him wrap his arms around her waist. She felt herself leaning forward, and he felt himself pulling her closer, both of their optics closing slowly. Their faces were so close, almost touching, and at one of the tiniest seconds, each could feel their lips touching.

Then, as if destiny guided them, their lips met. What was going on in life they didn't know, but what they did know was that this was the most peaceful, quietest, and most wonderful moment in their lives. Nothing but each other was on their minds, and it was as if nothing in the world, no, the universe that could part their kiss.

Fernblade felt a strong and soothing warmth fill her from her lips to her spark, and then to her feet. All the memories of work on Cybertron, being alone when she left Earth, everything… dissolved into nothing. They were forgotten, and she felt as if she would never be alone again. His hands on her back, holding her to prevent her from falling, felt as if they would melt her from the warmth. She sighed through his lips; her body almost limp against his.

Optimus felt her sigh, and gently sighed too. Her let his hands pull her closer and closer, feeling her arms tightening around his neck. All the tension that had followed him like a shadow over the eons on Cybertron, and all of the years on Earth, began to fade away into the light. He had never felt this way before, even when he'd thought that he had loved Blackarachnia. This feeling was… relieving, soothing. Her lips seemed to kiss all of the trouble he'd ever gone through in his life away, and permanently erase them. He felt her body grow heavy, and hugged her against his chest.

Finally, there was a time that they both could forget everything, and not care about a thing in the whole crazy, dangerous, but silent world. For once she had felt that she wasn't invisible, and for once, he felt that he could be relieved.

Then, suddenly they broke apart, slowly. They didn't open their optics for a moment, but when they did, they noticed that their optics shined brighter. They saw the blue glow on each other's face from their own optics, and they both didn't show any emotion but calmness. They couldn't think for a moment, for they were both dazed.

Optimus suddenly shook his head softly, and smiled slightly at her. His optics glowed with happiness.

"Ahem… uh… I guess we should be… getting back."

Fernblade's mind abruptly snapped back to reality. She blinked at him before nodding meekly, still not all the way in the real world.

He nodded, and gave his boosters a bit more power, sending them toward the direction to the warehouse. As they shot smoothly across the sky, Fernblade screamed in her mind, not wanting to go back. But, she knew that in only a few hours dawn would arrive, and, if they stayed out here, their time would end anyway. But she didn't want to go back yet, but little did she know, he was killing himself mentally.

But, they silently arrived at the warehouse. Optimus landed on the ground at the doorway, not wanting to let go of her, but unwrapping his arm from around her waist. He could've sworn he spotted a hint of disappointment in her gleaming optics. He sighed, and gave her a shy smile. She smiled back.

"Well… I guess we should be getting to our rooms. Do you need any help getting those off?" she asked, pointing to his back.

He looked over his shoulder at the boosters, and then shook his head. "Nah, I can get them."

They both walked inside the building side by side in silence. Optimus walked over to Ratchet's table near the TV and reached around his back to unhitch his boosters. Once off, he sat them down and turned back to her. She smiled weakly back at him, and he took her hand before leading her down the hall. She wrapped her arm around his and silently sighed to herself.

They walked in silence until they came to the stairs. He looked up the staircase, and then back to her face. She was gazing up at him with glowing optics that seemed to light up the whole dark hallway. He smiled warmly down at her, and stroked his hand on her cheek. She placed her own hand on his and leaned into his hand.

"Well… I guess it's goodnight." He said quietly, feeling a bit saddened that he had to let her go.

She nodded, a sigh breathing out of her chest. "Mhm…"

They stood there for a moment, not really sure whether to go to their rooms or not. But, they looked at each other knowingly, feeling that both of them were tired.

"Goodnight, Fern," Optimus whispered.

"Goodnight, Optimus." She replied quietly, her smile brightening a bit.

He smiled after her as she started to make her way up the stairs, and sighed as he turned away, his mind suddenly clouded as he crept to his room. He saw his door, and stared at it in wonder. He then pushed the button, and when the door opened, he slowly walked in. He then sat onto his berth, his mind still racing and his spark humming. Then he felt the same way he had before he followed Fernblade outside onto the roof earlier, but now he didn't feel awake, and now he felt more alone now that he wasn't with Fernblade.

He then got to thinking. He had never been so alone before, but this wasn't the same loneliness that he got when he was on the battlefield alone in a fight. This feeling was more complicated. Or was it? He had never loved anyone like this before, and without her… he felt like the only being in the universe. He considered going up those stairs and catching her before she went into her room, and telling her that he loved her, and to stay with him tonight. He would tell her that he never wanted her to go away, and to never leave him. Yes! He would tell her!

But when he got up to go to the door, he suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. He was dead tired, and could almost collapse onto his berth. So he changed his mind, knowing that he'd tell her tomorrow. He leaned back and was relieved when that soothing darkness that he met with each night arrived. She was a beautiful thing that let him gather his energy in the night to be active during that day. But… even the beauty of sleep couldn't compare to the wonderful, amazing, breath-taking femme that he had been with only a few moments ago…

"Slag… Slag, slag, slag!"

It felt good to curse. She hadn't cursed in years because if she did, she would go against her vow that she made to her mother a long time ago. Her mother never liked curse words. One time Fernblade had accidently said once when she was younger, and was punished by a spanking and her mouth washed out with grease. She didn't want to break the vow, but she was above adult age, and knew that that vow she made as a sparkling had died out. So, why not?

_Why didn't I stop on those stairs and go back? Why didn't I turn around and hug him? _

She sighed, siting on her berth, mentally wishing that Primus would rewind that moment. She wished that it went differently. She felt cold now that she wasn't in his arms, wasn't holding his hand, wasn't looking into those warm optics. She wanted to go back down those stairs and knock on his door, and see him one more time.

Never in her life had she felt that she wasn't invisible. She was seen by someone. Someone that loved her for who she was. Many others who knew here know that she is a quiet worker and was always alone. Ever since Jazz had left to join Earth, she'd been alone without any friends, so she was a serious femme most of the time. She never got close to anyone enough to know them. She had never opened her spark to anyone.

But now there was someone who actually saw her from his spark. But how was she going to _tell _him that? But… maybe he knew? Frag, of course he knew! They had _kissed _earlier! How couldn't he know that she loved him? She defiantly knew that he loved her. He was the one who pulled her in for the kiss in the first place.

She knew that he loved her, but she had to _tell _him that she loved him. She stood up and strolled toward the door. But then when her fingers reached for the button, she stopped herself. She hesitated at the door, not sure of whether to open it and go downstairs or not.

_I'll tell him tomorrow. _She thought, turning back slowly to her berth and walking back to it. She sat on side of it and sighed, laying down and rolling onto her side. She remembered that Optimus had been recharging right next her to like this the night before she woke up with him as an adult just the other day. She giggled to herself, remembering how they had reacted when they woke up together, and his reaction to thinking that they might have been doing something last night. She sighed, rubbing her head against the berth for more comfort.

Then that black blanket or recharge surrounded her, warming her and letting her relax. She then let the darkness wrap itself around her processer. After that, she saw only blackness. She didn't see that blue and red figure that she normally saw every night.

Tonight, she only had a dreamless recharge that made her at peace.


	9. Chapter 9

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Yes! That was the big moment! I've been itching to get to that part for a while now. Well, that's not the end! **

**Chapter Nine**

"Prime, you look tired. You have a bad recharge?"

Optimus gave a strained smile and nodded meekly at Ratchet. "I'm fine, Ratchet. I've just…" He thought for the right words. "I've just had a busy night."

The medic studied the Prime for a brief moment in suspicion before shrugging, grunting quietly. He looked back at Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Jazz, and Sari as they watched the game on the flat-screen TV. Bumblebee was dramatically trying to make his avatar on the game to some kind of move that would beat Jazz's character. Jazz was laughing as he easily made his character dodge every move Bumblebee's character made. Bumblebee was growling.

"Jazz, come on!"

Jazz laughed, a sudden grin flashing on his face. He did a few moves with his controller, and made a punch-kick move with his character, causing the yellow mech's jaw to drop.

"Oh, COME ON!" The large whine of Bumblebee shrieked through the room.

Jazz only laughed along with Sari and Bulkhead. Bumblebee pouted at the white Ninjabot.

"Jazz, you said that you'd let me win this time!"

The white bot smirked, leaning back in the sofa coolly. "Nah, your reactions are priceless."

Ratchet sighed, rolling his optics at the scene. The old bot wasn't one to get into anything and make a large argument about it. But, when he did, he could make the conversation long and boring. Sometimes the team wonders why the medic even bothered with staying with them. Once they had asked him, only to receive a grunt. But, knowing Ratchet, if they asked him again he'd probably throw a wrench at them or something. So, they kept their distance when it came to that subject.

Optimus shook his head and leaned back in the sofa. He woke up that morning in a good mood, but when he'd walked in the living room, suddenly he felt broken and wore out. He had fooled them, well, mostly, enough to leave him be. But he couldn't hide the tiredness in his optics, which was obvious to Ratchet. The others… not so much. They were too intrigued in their video games to pay attention to their leader. So he was mostly safe for the time being.

Prowl had walked in now, giving the other bots around the TV a glance before silently taking a seat at the other end of the sofa. He seemed up and alert, something that Optimus wished he was at that moment. He tried not to slump in his seat, but he couldn't help but let his body slide down. He shook his head at Ratchet when the medic gave him a questioning glance. The older bot shrugged and turned to the scene. Bumblebee was yelling at the grinning Jazz about him beating him in the game and that Jazz should let him win next time. The white bot only made a 'blah blah blah' motion with his hand, and nodded at Prowl when he noticed that he came in. The black and gold bot nodded silently back, but a hint of amusement showed in his optics as he saw the yellow bot in an angry mood.

"Don't worry so much, Bee," Sari mused, patting his leg. "It's just a game."

"Just a game?" Bumblebee snapped. "Games are my life! I'm second to none when it comes to speed and games."

Sari only giggled, folding her arms over her chest. "Actually, you're second to Blurr in the speed division."

Bumblebee was about to counter, but then froze. He was silent for a second before frowning.

"I mean on _Earth_! Blurr's an agent on Cybertron." He said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Keep talking!" Sari laughed, knowing that she'd won that one.

Prowl covered his face with his hand in a tensed fashion. He glared at them through his fingers. "Please don't…"

Sari laughed and sat down, grabbing her own controller. "Hey, Jazz! You and me now."

The white bot grinned and grabbed his controller. "You're on!"

So they started their new game. It became quiet in conversation. The most noise was the two players laughing at each other whenever they made a cool move or made a mistake. Bumblebee was on Sari's side of course, and looked way too tense whenever Jazz made a god move on Sari's character. Bulkhead was only there to watch, and laughed at his little yellow friend when he shrieked or gasped when the game got more intense between Jazz and Sari's characters.

Optimus sighed, sitting up some more to get comfortable. He rested his arm on the 'arm' of the sofa, using it to stay in an upright position to keep from falling over. He remembered everything that had happened last night, and wanted to talk to Fern about it. He wanted to tell her that… he loved her. He'd planned to tell her that whenever they were alone, but oddly, she wasn't in the room when he'd woke up around 10:00 that morning. He hadn't bothered going up to knock because he feared that she was still in recharge, and didn't want to be disturbed.

Another hour passed, and it was now around 12:00 p.m. Now Optimus was concerned if she was alright.

"Has anyone seen Fern?" he asked, looking over the sofa toward the hall before turning back to the others.

Prowl shrugged. "She woke up around 8:00 this morning or so. She said that she had to do something and would be back later."

Optimus lifted an optic ridge. "Have you heard from her since?"

The black and gold bot shook his head. Optimus sighed and sat up.

"Relax, Prime. She probably needed to go run a long errand or something." Ratchet suggested.

"Or needed to be alone." Jazz added, gasping when his character was almost hit by Sari's opportunity attack.

The Prime sighed deeply, leaning back into the sofa as he was lost in his thoughts. Where had she gone? What was she doing? When would she be back? The red and blue mech leaned his head to the side, looking away from the others. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He had forgotten that Sari had put it there for herself when she'd lost track of time. But now, he realized that yet another hour had passed. The other three bots and techno-organic had been switching players and controls, experimenting with new ways of playing. Jazz had the hardest time playing with Sari's tiny controller, and Sari with his. They had laughed when Sari fell forward when she tried to reach the control stick. Jazz was trying to see what he was even doing with her controller. Bumblebee had won against Jazz for once out of luck. He had almost lost himself but had won with Sari because she let him, just to keep him quiet. Well… he wasn't much quieter than he was when he lost, bragging about how he had won.

Suddenly the group of mechs and techno-organic heard the clicking of heels.

"Hey, I'm back."

Optimus sighed in relief at her voice, feeling the tension disappear. He looked over his shoulder to greet her, but lost his words at the very sight of her. Was _this _Fernblade?! He wasn't too sure whether or not to trust his optics.

This femme was green like Fernblade, but the green was a brighter color. Her armor shined as if it had been just polished and was rearranged in a way that made her look slimmer and a bit taller. The armor around her stomach area was gone, well not exactly gone, but moved upwards to rearrange the armor around her chest. Now her protoform showed around her stomach in a way that a human woman would when she wore a short shirt that didn't cover her whole abdomen. The parts around her hips were slimmer, and had changed size so that they covered her thighs and lower legs. Her feet were set up higher on the heels, making her look taller. The Autobot symbol was a brighter red, like it had been brightened in the sun.

If Optimus's spark was humming when he'd heard her voice, he thought that he as fixing to have a spark attack from the sight. The surprised expression couldn't be hidden from the femme, who smiled confidently back.

"Hey, sleep well?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Cursing himself mentally, he nodded, forcing a smile to spread over his face.

"Wow, Fern! What did you to yourself?" Sari asked, looking away from Bumblebee as he and Jazz stared dumbfounded at the femme.

Fernblade smiled, looking down at herself and shrugging. "Thought I'd try something new for a change. How does this look?"

The other mechs could only nod at her in shock, but sari grinned. "Ya look awesome!"

_Awesome? Slag! She looks like she'd been touched by Primus! _Optimus blinked.

Fernblade grinned back at the techno-organic. Then she looked back at the others, giggling at their very intrigued expressions. The only ones that weren't looking at her lovingly were Prowl and Ratchet. But even though they wore their calm faces, she could spy a bit of shock in their optics. Then she looked at Optimus.

"Sleep well? Ya slept pretty late this morning."

He nodded meekly, trying to command his mouth to let out his sentence. Finally, the words began to flow out shakily.

"Uh… yeah, I did. Um… did you sleep well?"

She smiled brighter. "Yep, better than ever."

Jazz stood up, having paused the game, and walking over to her. "Whoa! You sure got a make-over didn't ya?"

She giggled. "Yeah, I suddenly had the urge to try a different look." She then transformed into her alt-mode, which now looked like one of those very high-dollar sports motorcycles on TV. She had also gotten a pair of police lights on the back of her seat, in the same place Prowl had his. Jazz clapped his hands together and laughed.

"Nice! What made you change your style?"

Fernblade transformed back into her normal mode and shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I just… felt like it."

"How'd you even do it?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

"I met a guy that was a fan of y'all." She replied casually. "I told him I was with you and he said I could have any style I wanted. So I told him to just… surprise me!"

Bulkhead smiled at her, now having gotten his bearings. "Well, it looks pretty on ya."

She smiled happily at him. "Thanks, Bulk."

Did it cost anything?" Ratchet questioned.

Fernblade shook her head. "Nope. He said it was on him, and that I could go to him whenever I wanted."

The medic huffed to himself. Fernblade could tell that he was amused by her sudden change. Like she had always thought, people were books. He was easy to read. He was a grouchy bot that needed a little push to get onto his good side. Wise bot, but kept to himself.

Finally Optimus found his confident voice, but his mind was still screaming in surprise. "Well, it looks nice on you." As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished that he could suck them back in.

She saw the shock on his face of his own words. "Thanks, Optimus."

She then walked over by the TV. Jazz sat where he had before, but then yelped. "Bee!"

The yellow bot burst out laughing as Jazz looked at the screen. It showed his character dead and the title saying Game Over: Player Two Wins. Bumblebee had muted the game and beat his character while Jazz went to talk to Fernblade, being the opportunist he was. Jazz glared at Bumblebee.

"Okay, NOT cool!" he said, slumping his shoulders.

Bumblebee only laughed. He pointed at him. "You should've seen your face!"

Sari giggled and stood next to Fernblade's foot. The femme was smiling too, and shook her head at their behavior. _Boys! It's a wonder how females ate still alive today._

She watched as they restarted their game, Jazz pointing a finger at the younger yellow bot.

"You're gonna get it!" he said, grasping his controller.

Fernblade rolled her optics knowingly. She sighed as she leaned against the side of the sofa that Optimus was on. In his mind he was cursing and screaming at himself so badly he thought that it would all escape from his mouth if he didn't keep it shut. They watched again for a while as the boys played their game. Today was pretty much a 'lazy day' as Sari had called it. Usually these days were common since Megatron had disappeared to Primus knows where. Speaking of Megatron, Starscream hadn't been seen either, which came to the conclusion that they were together again, maybe on a distant planet somewhere in the universe plotting another plan.

But now they weren't here on Earth, and hopefully it would be a long time, or possibly never, before they came back. So the Autobots could relax now.

Suddenly Fernblade stretched, standing up straight again.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower. I'll be back later after I'm done."

The boys in the game nodded, still keeping their optics on the TV. Sari smiled and waved before turning back to the game. Prowl nodded without looking at her and Ratchet shrugged and frowned at the youths on the game. Optimus looked at her and smiled, and then nodded as he looked away. Fernblade turned to leave the room to the showers, but then she smiled, She turned back around and walked to the arm of the sofa, and without warning lightly kissed the Prime on the cheek.

Suddenly the sound of a fire engine's blaring sirens echoed very loudly in the living room, making everybody snap their heads to their leader in surprise as he sat in a shocked state on the end of the sofa, seeing that his emergency lights were also on in a spinning of blue and red. Fernblade laughed amusingly and spun on her heel and walked out of the room, her hips swaying as she did so. Optimus's optics were wide as he bent the cap-like edge of his helm down over his optics in embarrassment. His face grew hotter than Hades as he sat there, now letting his body slump so that he was partially behind the arm of the couch, knowing that all of his teammates' optics were on him.

He earned shocked, amused, and confusing glances from everybody but Prowl. Prowl only gave him a hidden knowing smile and looked away.

_Well… then again, maybe I won't have to tell her… _The Prime thought to himself, wishing that he could disappear.

Fernblade giggled quietly to herself as she strolled down the darkened hallways. She knew that when the sirens went off, he'd been caught off-guard. That was the most priceless thing she'd ever seen. She guessed that Bumblebee and Jazz would never let him live it down. If she knew them enough, they'd say something about it to her when she was done and back in the living room.

She wouldn't say anything about last night, though. That was between her and Optimus. She knew that he'd chew her out if she had said anything about that. But… he'd first have to gather his processer from what had just happened. It'd probably take him an hour if she knew him well enough. She thought it was so funny to stun him like that. It was priceless! She'd probably be in for it later, but she didn't care. He wasn't going to do anything to her, she knew that. He was too innocent.

So, she walked down the hall, smiling knowingly as she entered the room to the showers.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Optimus was still beating hot as the others laughed at his unexpected reaction to Fernblade's kiss.

"You should've seen your face, BossBot!" Bumblebee cackled, lying on his back on the floor.

Jazz grinned widely at their leader. "How long have you and Fern been together?"

Optimus pressed his hand harder against his face. He was still slumping in his seat. The Prime mumbled under his breath. "Not for very long…"

Jazz put a hand up to his audio. He did hear him, but he just wanted to give his friend a hard time. "Sorry, I couldn't hear ya."

Optimus grumbled to himself, not replying to the question. He thought that if he felt any hotter, he would burst into flames! What she did was totally unexpected to him, and he even scared himself when his sirens and lights accidently came on in his shocked moment. If he could have and had the thought to do so, he'd stuff a black of energon in Bumblebee's, Jazz's, and Bulkhead's mouths. He would've have just glared at Sari to make her stop, but he was way too embarrassed to even show his optics from behind his hand.

Ratchet then chuckled. "So, that's what's wrong with you thing morning?"

"Did you do anything _with _her last night?" Bumblebee asked before bursting out laughing again.

Optimus's face felt like it was melting. He couldn't bring himself to uncover his face, slag, he couldn't even move from the spot he was. He wanted to go to his room and never come out. It wasn't like he didn't like it when she had kissed him, it was just that it was in front of the others, and that it had caught him so off-guard to have made him make that sudden outburst. He had turned his sirens off, but his lights still flashed on his back. Now noticing them, he flicked them off.

"Primus, kill me now…"

Ratchet sighed, smiling still, but then his emotion suddenly changed and he was glaring at the other bots. "Shut up. It's his business, not yours."

Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Jazz, and Sari suddenly stopped laughing. The sudden silence didn't make Optimus feel any better, but he was able to sit up without being laughed at.

He then sighed. "Me and Fern have been together for a day or two… we haven't done anything…" he mumbled quietly.

Bumblebee gave his leader a teasing look. "Then what was that about?"

The Prime glared at him. "Nothing. I was just… surprised, was all." He sat up and folded his arms over is chest, not looking anyone in the optics.

"Ya got that right! Your sirens and lights even got a shock!" Bumblebee then fell backwards onto his back laughing, causing the others to laugh as well. Even Ratchet chuckled and Prowl smiled.

Optimus cleared his throat rather loudly, silencing them. They stared at him as he glared at them in warning. There was a long silence between them before Jazz smiled at him.

"Sorry, OP, we couldn't help it. We've never seen anything like that happen to you before, or anybody in that fact for me."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead nodded in agreement. Sari patted his leg.

"Yeah, we're sorry, Optimus."

He sighed, covering his face for a brief minute before smiling knowingly at them. "Oh, alright. But you better not dog me about it."

They all put their hands up in defense. "We won't." they all said in union.

Not all the way satisfied, the prime sighed and leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. Then the sound of heels clicking the floor announced that Fernblade had finished her shower. She came in, still as stunning as she had been when she'd arrived earlier. She wore a beautiful smile that brightened Optimus's mood a bit.

"Welcome back," Sari said cheerily, clearly hiding her giggles.

Fernblade nodded and walked over. Jazz and Bumblebee had given up on their game and were sitting on the floor. They tried not to stare at her as she sat down beside Optimus.

"So, everything worked out?" she asked, giving them all a curious glance.

Optimus cleared his throat and nodded meekly. She smiled and leaned against his side, earning a surprised glance. But he smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, feeling more confident now.

Ratchet then interrupted the silence. "So, are you two _together_, or… what?"

Fernblade hugged Optimus's chest. "Together."

"But what about your job on Cybertron?" Jazz asked in confusion.

Fernblade frowned for a moment in thought. She had completely forgotten about going back, but this time, it didn't hurt her like it did before.

"You know what? Screw the job. Screw Sentinel, screw Cybertron." She smiled and crossed her legs. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You better not say that around Sentinel if you know what's good for you." Optimus said, rubbing her shoulder.

She laughed, "Yeah, you'd know that, wouldn't ya?"

He raised an optic ridge at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She folded her arms over her chest. "Sentinel talks about you all the time. He babbles on how you always try to take control of situations and how he would've been able to handle them if you weren't there." She then smiled. "So I guessed that you two have had a history together."

Optimus nodded, rolling his optics. "Yes, we've had our runs. Some good, most bad."

"But beside the point," Ratchet interrupted, "what _are _you going to tell Sentinel when you go back up there?"

Fernblade looked down at her legs for a moment. What would she have to say to him? She wasn't going to just go up there and just say, "Screw the job, I quit." She would have to be more calm and serious about it. So, she looked at Ratchet with a calm smile.

"Well, I am not too sure about that myself. If I told him what I just said, I'd have my aft kicked from Cybertron to the other side of the galaxy. So, that's out of the question."

"You actually considered saying that?" Optimus asked quietly, earning an playful elbow in the gut.

She smiled when he gasped, smiling at her in an odd way. "No, of course not! I meant that I can't tell him in a way like that." She then made a thinking pose before grinning "Well, maybe I would have told him that."

Optimus then groaned, rubbing his abdomen. "So that gut hit was for nothing?"

She laughed, and rubbed his shoulder. "Nope, for the entertainment, because I know tat you can't bring yourself to hit me back."

He paused for a moment, and then blushed slightly. "True…"

She smiled, leaning back against him again. He no longer felt to embarrassed of what had happened earlier, and the others didn't seem to be so enthused on joking with him. So, he felt more confident in the way he spoke and acted with her. But he was very grateful that she was going to stay on Earth. After all that they've been through, what would have been the point of leaving?

_What would have been the point of letting her go? _He corrected himself mentally as he hugged her closer to his side.


	10. Chapter 10

**You Caught My Optics**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Alright, after the last chapter my mind went blank like when Optimus was kissed on the cheek in the last chapter XD. I had no idea what to write next. So, sorry it this chapter is crappy and all. But, I hope you like it anyway. **

**Chapter Ten**

Fernblade sighed as she gazed up at the large ship. This was the big moment. Once she got on that ship, she was going to break the news to Sentinel. This was sort of scary to her, knowing the mech's temper could shoot through the roof at any moment. She knew that this was risky, and that her boss would be suspicious of why she wanted to stay on Earth. But, as she watched as the steps to the ship's entrance lower to the ground, she thought out her words carefully. She tried to predict what he might say, but as long as she'd known him, he'd been unpredictable.

So, she walked as confidently as she could toward the ship, pausing at the steps to look over her shoulder at the others, who were few were yards away watching her leave. She smiled, letting a hint of hope light her optics before she turned away and stepped onto the steps. She then started to make her way up the steps, and then disappeared inside the ship. The ladder tucked into the ship and left the rest of the Autobots on the ground waiting in anxious wonder.

Ratchet turned his optics to Optimus. He was standing straight, a distant look in his expression. His optics were dim in thought, not settling on anything.

"Optimus?" the old medic said.

The Prime slowly turned his head toward the older mech. "Yes?"

"What are you going to do if Sentinel doesn't let her go?" The medic asked softly. "What will happen to you mentally if she cannot come back and stay?"

Optimus didn't reply immediately. Instead he turned his helm toward the ship for a long while. What would he do? What would he think? Would it affect him for life? He didn't know. He only thought that he would have to go on, and try to forget everything that had happened between him and her. But… that was going to be hard to do. That is, if she wasn't going to stay on Earth. He very so hoped that she would. But knowing Sentinel, she probably never come back again. Only to say goodbye.

Optimus's optics began to grow misty, and he blinked rapidly. He didn't look at Ratchet when he replied.

"I am not sure, Ratchet. That will come to mind when we get an answer." He said, feeling the older bot's gaze on him. But it wasn't a stern feeling, or a grumpy or irritated gaze. It was a soft, calm, and caring look for once, one that almost surprised Optimus.

Ratchet nodded calmly, looking away. Bumblebee sighed, but this time surprisingly it wasn't of boredom. Bulkhead didn't say anything, but Optimus could barely see his lower lip twitch as if he was about to ball up crying. Prowl was motionless in a stiff stance, an expressionless face. But… was that dread shadowing his face? Optimus couldn't tell. Prowl was too good at hiding emotions to actually know for sure. Sari was standing near Bumblebee's leg, a hopeful and fearful emotion hovering her light blue eyes and her dark face.

Optimus knew that everybody had grown on Fern. It had been four days since that day with his embarrassing incident, which didn't bother him any longer. It had taken a while for Sentinel's ship to get her, and when it did that morning, Fernblade had gotten the call on her com-link. They had arrived to the ship just a few minutes ago, anxious and hopeful that somehow Sentinel would let her stay. Optimus had offered to go inside with her to convince him.

But all she said was. "No. It's my problem to deal with Sentinel about this."

Optimus had wished she said yes. He wondered what she was doing now. She most likely still was walking the halls of the ship looking for the other Prime. But, just as those few minutes passed, it felt like an eternity to him.

_Please…please….please let her stay…_

Meanwhile, Fernblade was strolling down the main hallway to the main workroom. She knew that Sentinel as most likely still harassing the workers there, for it was a routine thing for him. She remembered when she'd seen him walk in and annoy the frag out of workers to make them work faster or to tripe check certain things that were even harmless. She really begged herself to come up with anything that could convince him that she needed to stay on Earth. She really didn't want to tell him about her and Optimus, but what could she tell him? She couldn't just say that she just chose to stay on Earth, she had to give him a reason of why. What she was going to say she wasn't even certain herself, but she had to think of something.

She rounded a corner. The work room would be just up ahead. It was where they checked the power supply to the ship and worked on the engineering systems. She wasn't part of that department. She worked with the higher authorities. She delivered tablets and plans to other leaders of different stations so that the whole team working on the ship were in touch with each other's plans and orders. She was a… favorite of Sentinel's department. She wasn't sure why, but he always took a liking to her. She had always put a good distance between them though.

Finally the sign to the work room, 'Engineering and Tech' showed above the door. She placed her hand on the door and pushed it open. She saw a few workers look up at her and nod. She nodded back to them. She glanced around the room, but frowned when she didn't see her boss.

"He's in the control room."

Fernblade smiled at Lavender. Lavender was an okay friend. They were work buddies of sorts. She was closer to the purple femme than others, for her attitude was calm and quiet. She didn't freak out about many things unless it was very important. They had known each other for a few eons while in work, and had each other's back when it came down to tricky situations. Lavender was a bit older than her, and could read expressions easily. Fernblade had learned that trick from her in the first place from being around her so much in the office. She was a wise femme, and Fernblade learned a lot in work with her. She would miss her when she'd left, or if she left.

Fernblade walked toward Lavender, seeing that she was almost done with a piece of a part for the bridge.

"Hey, Fern, how's it goin'?" Lavender greeted with a tired smile.

Fernblade lowered her gaze. "I have been okay."

Lavender looked her up and down with wide, and impressed optics. "Wow, you sure went all out on the tune up. I didn't expect to see…" she waved her hands in the air towards Fernblade. "This."

The younger femme huffed, smiling happily. "You like it?"

"Like it?" she said, "Girl, I LOVE it!"

Fernblade smiled at her friend in relief. But then she noticed that she was studying her with a devious grin.

"What?' she asked in a nervous voice.

Her friend waited for a moment before she replied, and when she did, her voice was smooth and confident. "You know that someone's gonna be on your heels when he sees your new look, right?"

Fernblade stared at her in confusion for a minute. She looked down at herself in thought. She heard Lavender giggle in amusement and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hello! Sentinel! As soon as he sees your new make-over he's gonna go offline." She then grinned even wider, a new gleam shining in her optics. "On second thought, do so! I've been needing to get rid of him for a while…" she said in a mischievous voice and a devious grin on her face.

Fernblade burst out laughing. "Lavender! Really?"

Lavender giggled and shook her head. "You get the point. So, what's been up?"

The green femme suddenly let her gaze fall to the ground sullenly. How was she going to tell her friend that she was going to leave her behind to live on Earth, a planet that was covered with organics? She had always been there for her, and it would be hard to tell her this news. But… if she was going to be with Optimus on Earth, she would have to tell her friend about the situation before going to Sentinel.

She sighed. "It's been okay. But…"

Lavender tilted her head. "But what?"

"I am going to talk to Sentinel about staying on Earth."

The purple femme stared at her for a long time, thinking over what she had said. She then blinked rapidly at her.

"You mean… you're going to live on Earth?" When Fernblade had nodded, the older femme sighed. She put the screw gun down gently and rested a hand on her hip, a questioning cross on her face. A few moments went by in silence, making Fernblade uncomfortable for a minute.

"This doesn't have anything to do with a certain mech that lives on Earth, does it?"

Fernblade blinked her optics in surprise. Did she read her mind? She knew that she was good at reading emotions, but not processers! Boy, she was good. The green femme smiled, hesitating on whether to tell her or not.

"Ha! I knew it!" Lavender squealed and hurriedly scooted around the corner of the counter with an excited smile. Fernblade yelped when she hugged her in a vice grip. When she was released she sighed in relief.

"So… who is he?" Lavender urged in anticipation.

Fernblade sighed. "Um… it's a… he's…"

"Yes, yes, go on…"

"He's a Prime."

There was a sudden silence. Fernblade watched her face for a long while, trying her best to read her, but whenever she guessed one thing, she was thrown off. She gave up trying to read her and waited somewhat patiently for her reply.

Finally, Lavender's mouth curved into a growing smile. "You've got to be kidding me! Optimus Prime?!"

_Whoa, she is good. _The green femme thought to herself. But, she smiled and nodded meekly.

Lavender suddenly squealed and wrapped her arms around Fernblade's neck in a very tight grip. Fernblade flailed her arms, trying to pry her off.

"I cannot believe it! You and Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!" her friend laughed.

"Yes, yes, Optimus. Now will you let me go?"

"Oops! Sorry, Fern," She let go of the strangled green femme. Fernblade gasped, clutching her chest.

"But I can't believe it. How long have you two been?"

"A day or two. Why are you so excited about it?" She replied.

She rolled her optics, an almost dreamy look on her face. "Are you kidding me? Any femme would fall onto his feet, he's a _hunk!"_

Fernblade laughed at her choice of words to describe Optimus. She'd heard many femmes talking about the Prime a long time ago, but she'd never pay attention to them. She didn't even know what he'd look like until she'd first met him.

"Short amount of time, huh?"

Fernblade shrugged, rubbing her neck. "Love's a strange thing, isn't it?"

"No kidding." Lavender sighed, and hugged her again, much more gently thins time.

Fernblade hugged back. This was the part that would hurt her the most, saying goodbye. But that would be a goodbye only of Sentinel said no to staying on Earth. She would really miss Lavender, and all of their crazy times on the ship. They had had their share of fun, even if it wasn't as much as a prank on another worker or their boss. She was going to miss those fun times, and she would never forget Lavender and her comforting conversations whenever she had a hard day or had gotten chewed on by one of the higher workers.

"Well, Fern," Lavender sighed against her shoulder, "I sure hope you get what you want. I sure hope we see each other again."

Fernblade tried to choke back a sob. Her throat was starting to get sore from the emotional moment. She heard her friend sob, and patted her back soothingly.

"Don't worry; we'll see each other again. How couldn't we?" she smiled sympathetically.

Lavender parted the hug and looked her in the optics. "I know, but I just can't believe my baby's growin' up!"

Fernblade giggled. Lavender had always referred to her as her 'baby' because they were so close like sisters. They had been close for a long time, and it was heartbreaking to know that she would be leaving her behind.

"Well," Fernblade sighed as she rested her hands on Lavender's shoulders. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

With that, Fernblade slowly walked out of the work room, her optics becoming clouded and her processer throbbing with dread. But she had made up her mind. She was going to stay on Earth. No matter what Sentinel said.

So she walked down the main hallway again, now on her way to the control room. She eyed the top of the doors at the signs that said what rooms were what. She saw the tablets room, which was in human terms the paperwork room. Cybertronians didn't have any need for paper, and used tablets. Paper wasn't an option on Cybertron, and was never heard of until they had come to Earth and had to retrieve the Allspark and Optimus Prime's team. So, the tablets were electronic devices similar to the humans' kindles and tablets.

Fernblade spotted the sign that said, 'Main Control Room'. She sighed, her spark skipping beats. She was now a nervous wreck as she stood in front of the door, getting ready to enter. She paused for a moment. The big moment was about to happen. She would get her answer on whether she stays or goes. Hopefully, it would be goes.

She pushed the button, and entered. She let her optics search the room before she spotted the large blue and orange bot leaning over the shoulder of one of the supervisors of the ship's functioning systems. She hesitated to go any closer, but then she scolded herself. She straightened her stance and took on a soldier-like pose.

"Sentinel, sir?"

"Hey, Bee, when do you think she'll come out?" Sari asked as she looked up at the yellow bot with worried eyes.

Bumblebee was silent for a moment, which almost surprised her and the others, who looked at him as he wasn't the same mech anymore. He shrugged casually, letting a uncertain look become obvious on his face.

"I don't know." He replied quietly.

Ratchet studied him for a moment, considering hitting him on the head. He wasn't used to Bumblebee being so quiet and serious. But, then again, he also wondered if everyone else knew that their leader felt like the whole world was on his shoulders. Optimus was still standing like he was when she'd went in, his back straight and motionless. He kept his optics on the ship, letting them shift to look at something else every now and then.

Ratchet could feel the tension in the air, and soon grew less confident that she'd come back at all. If anything the ship could take off at any moment and fly off to Cybertron. He wondered what was happening right at that moment. But, he knew Optimus's processer wasn't even on Earth at that moment. He looked over at him about to say something that could possibly comfort him, but stopped himself. Their leader didn't want to be disturbed within his thoughts, so he looked away and kept his mouth shut.

Bulkhead sighed deeply, plopping down onto the grass to rest his aching legs. Standing in one spot for so long made his short stubby legs sore, and it was taking very long for Fernblade to talk to Sentinel.

_Maybe their having an argument… _he thought to himself in wonder. If he knew anything, it was that Sentinel could make a simple conversation turn into the biggest argument in the universe. He remembered when one time he started a fight with Optimus when they were trying to catch Wasp, Bumblebee's old enemy, and lost him afterwards.

Bumblebee then sat down beside him, letting Sari sit on his knee. His legs were growing tired as well, and he grumbled to himself as he rubbed his other kneecap. Sari smiled and rubbed his other, earning a dog-like response when he started wiggling his butt on the ground as if wagging a tail. She giggled at his playful joke and leaned onto his side. He chuckled and placed a hand on the ground to lean on.

From his lonely state, Optimus couldn't help but smile at the youths' fun. He then sighed, thinking of the jokes Fernblade had played him with. He was going to miss her if she left, but hoped to Primus that she wouldn't. But as the time passed, he began to doubt that she was ever coming back at all.

But right in the middle of his thoughts, he heard some mechanical sounds and looked up to see the steps lowering. His spark began to buzz with anticipation as she walked down the steps. But, her head was low and a saddened expression blanketed her features.

_Oh Primus, no… _

That was all he could think as she walked closer and closer. It seemed to take her a while to get to them, even though it was only a minute or two. She stopped in front of them with dim optics, making them all feel worried.

"Well..." Ratchet asked.

Fernblade looked up at him, blinking slowly. She didn't answer right away, and was quiet for a moment. Then when she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.

"I told him," she began, "and he didn't like it. He started explaining how they needed everyone on the ship and on Cybertron and that I couldn't leave…"

Optimus's spark sank to his knees. But then she smiled meekly.

"…Unless I gave him a good reason why. I told him I couldn't stand the conditions of the ship, and said that the Autobots on Earth need more help than the ones on Cybertron. Then he said that he'd be back after telling Ultra Magnus about my 'insubordination'."

Sari then slipped off of Bumblebee's knee. "So… are you going to stay?"

Fernblade smiled, resting her hands on her hips. "If I know anything about Ultra Magnus, he's going to agree with you guys needing help down here."

Ratchet smiled. "And you will be staying here." He finished with a sigh of relief.

Fernblade winked. "That's right, DocBot."

Ratchet blinked at her. Oh Primus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were rubbing off on her with their nicknames for other bots. Hopefully she won't she won't come to the habit of being annoying like Bumblebee. She then smiled at Optimus. He was smiling in happiness at her, his spark now feeling like it was reconnected to the wires in his chest.

"That's great, Fern." Was all he could say before she surprised him by jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck in a very tight hug.

"Great? It's FANTASTIC!" she laughed, kissing him on the cheek.

Optimus laughed, and hugged her back, not caring if the others were around to see them together like this. He was overjoyed to know that she was going to stay her. He was almost afraid his spark would jump out of his chest and do a dance on the ground in front of them.

"But I did give him a shock with my new work clothes."

The Prime lifted a optic ridge at her. "You did?"

"Yeah, he stared at me for almost five minutes before I could get him to come back to life." She said.

Suddenly she was in Bulkhead's arms. "Yay! You're gonna stay!" He then picked up Bumblebee, Prowl, and Jazz to include them in the hug.

Fernblade gasped and kicked her legs. "Yes! Yes! I'm staying! You're choking me."

"You're choking all of us!" Prowl added grunting in the larger bot's grip.

Bumblebee yelped as he accidently kicked Prowl's leg, earning a swift hard heel in the back of the knee. Fernblade laughed in a strangled voice and then started to wiggle. She then popped out from the bottom of their legs and stood up to dust herself off before grinning at the wriggling mechs in Bulkhead's arms.

She then was snatched up by Optimus. Her optics were wide before she knew who it was that had her, and then laughed.

"_Attention any troopers near the state park. There has been a robbery involving two men. They are headed east toward the train station."_

They all looked at Bumblebee. He had his radio turned on listening to music a while ago while Fernblade was inside the ship.

"Well, hopefully this won't involve any rays of any sort." Ratchet groaned.

Optimus smiled, letting Fern down. He then stood straight, and smiled at the other.

"Autobots, Transform and,"

"Roll Out!" Fernblade then transformed and drove off.

The Prime's optics grew wide as the others followed her lead, laughing. He stared after them for a short moment before yelling.

"Hey, I'm supposed to say that!"

When the others disappeared, he rolled his optics and transformed. "And roll out." Then he sped after them, leaving a trail of dust behind as he raced to catch up with the others.

**Hey, I know, this was a sucky chapter. But I ran out of inspiration for the last chapter, and couldn't come up with anything better than what I wrote. Sorry about that! But I hope you like it though, I think I'm gonna end it here. I know, short and snappy. This was meant for a first story thing, so… yeah, XD. Oh, and please take a look at my You Caught My Optics Part Two! :) And PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!**


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